


Paper Mountains

by cloud_in_a_bottle



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Friendships, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Kisame appreciation, Multi, Slow Burn, Uchiha Itachi Has Issues, Worldbuilding, lots of traveling, mild body horror - will warn on that chapter - hashtag orochimaru, nature appreciation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24994180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloud_in_a_bottle/pseuds/cloud_in_a_bottle
Summary: Itachi and Kisame don't know what they're in for when a stranger approaches them with a deal. OC Sagami Rasu quickly finds herself questioning her country's motives while getting involved with people she never wanted to know. ItachixRasu.Enemies to friends to lovers. Slow burn.Reposted and continued from FFnet. Who's still writing Naruto OCs in the year twenty twenty?!
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 23





	1. Prologue

October 6, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 3:00pm, Konohagakure, Kage Tower Library of Records, Floor 5.

 _Damn_ , Rasu* cursed, rustling old parchment to roll it closed, pausing in her haste to shut her eyes to disappointment again. She spent all morning tracking down four leads, and none of them were the authorization she searched for. She kicked at the rubble and paper at her feet. The floor was a haphazard disarray of scrolls jammed here and there without regard for whose seal adorned the end of them. Locating any specific scroll was a daunting task even before the invasion. This morning it was even worse, as a fine layer of soot and broken glass obscured what few accurate labels existed, and three entire rows that were intact on Tuesday were now a splintered, charred mess on Friday. It was truly a looter’s nightmare. Had anyone asked for her opinion, Rasu would have said that chaos was not what she had envisioned to be her biggest challenge to her mission to infiltrate the massive, five-tiered records library in the Kage tower of the world's largest shinobi city.

Though she had to admit, she liked Konoha's scroll-house. Despite its flaws, it used to be clean. And its maintenance was well intentioned if not totally overwhelmed. It was arranged on many floors of Konoha’s Kage tower, each floor more confidential than the floor below. The top floor of the building was, of course, the Hokage's office. Rows were almost her height, with shelves of a latticework of wooden slats that were as pretty as they were functional.

Kusagakure's library had been dim in comparison, with low ceilings and pockets of mildew eating away at their secrets, but her job in Kusa was made easier by the fact that they only ever categorized by year – but that was why that mission had taken her a week, in and out. Konoha had been her temporary home for a _month_ , and with no small amount of luck, today would be her last day in the Hokage tower – ever, if she had anything to say about it. Rasu had worked her slow pace through the upper floors of the city's library. Mission records, peace treaties, and meeting transcripts were among the bounty concealed in her backpack. But the smoking gun – the checkmate – the holy grail of mission authorizations – eluded her still.

In August, she had slipped into Konoha with her country's genin under the guise of advising them during the Chuunin Exams. She and the team’s official sensei trained and hounded the genin into shape. It was an amusing distraction when she wasn't busy with her own mission. Having never taken a Chuunin Exam in her life, she happily obliged when asked to serve as a decoy during the written test of round one.

Once inside the city, the exams were the perfect distraction to allow her access to the library. She made good use of her ‘borrowed’ ANBU standard issue provided to her at the start of this mission – ANBU had the highest clearance, after all, and the anonymity necessary for Konoha's highest brand of shinobi awarded Rasu the privacy she relied on.

Their genin had failed round two, but Takigakure's reps were welcome to stay and watch the one-on-one battles between finalists. No one ever said the Chuunin Exams weren’t expensive to host. While finalists trained privately, the losers and their guests enjoyed themselves in the large city. Her genin were losers – they lost (as their sensei reminded them daily); it was just a fact.

Five days ago, on October 1, Rasu had donned her ANBU uniform and slipped into the top floor of the library. She had planned carefully for her invasion into the privacy of this floor: it was, after all, the highest risk target of her mission. She took great pains to attempt it when all eyes were trained on the far-off stadium, where the winners finally met head to head in direct combat. Compared to the lower floors, this floor had low ceilings and thick, tinted windows for security and to preserve old, irreplaceable originals.

Well, it _had_ had thick, tinted windows before her own handiwork shattered the North-facing window, when Sand and Sound invaded the city and forced her to make a quick retreat.

Five days ago, the building shook violently beneath her feet. A distant crash accompanied by pillars of thick smoke pouring up and over the high walls of the stadium had thrown her on alert. Movement left of the stadium had drawn her eye and she had watched, open-mouthed, as a sizable portion of the city wall toppled inward.

Observing the first moments of the invasion of Konoha from the height of the Kage tower was awesome in the sense of its magnitude. Blessed with precious time to think, she had made the only sensible decision: get her stolen bounty out of the city – see it safely to Takigakure, if needed, and don’t look back. So in favor of protecting the bounty she already had, she shattered the window with a burst of chakra and leapt through the anti-teleportation ward. Long before she hit the ground far, far below, she had performed a string of seals and closed her eyes as her teleportation justu melted her into water and taken her outside the city where she waited, restless and pacing, for the clamor of the invasion to die down.

The following morning, when she had strolled through the front gates of Konoha without a whisper of a guard's presence, the damage was apparent. Since then, Taki and most other visiting countries stayed to lend meager support, but rebuilding would take months. The least anyone could do was attend the 3rd Hokage's funeral.

"You're playing the long game," the genin’s team leader reminded her as he passed along fresh intel this morning. As if she needed a reminder of what her country expected from her. The invasion had accelerated her mission’s timeline. It had apparently prompted her next targets to hasten towards Konoha sooner than expected: they would be in the city within a matter of days. So she’d better look sharp and finish the search immediately.

 _What if I don't find this scroll at all?_ She wondered, but didn't ask. Instead: "Sensei, based on my surveying Konoha’s library, it is my opinion that the scroll we search for was destroyed, likely for Konoha's own protection." He'd pursed his lips and said nothing comforting. The team leader was a severe man. His team—their team—was the only one from Taki that qualified to take the Chuunin exams this year, so his severity had its payoffs. She drew Konoha’s ANBU mask down over her face, hoping it unnerved him if only just a little, and left.

It was with mixed feelings that she had donned the ANBU standard issue for the last time. This morning, she slipped into the private, humidity-regulated highest-security floor of Konoha's record house. Likely due to very low traffic, the top floor was mercifully better organized. Even including the ash, dust, and rubble she had to wipe away, it was a simple task to locate Kage Summit transcripts and complete her collection of that subject before she renewed her methodical hunt for a missing third in a set of particular interest to her colleagues.

Rasu let the latest dead end slip from her fingers to be discarded with the rest. It made a _thwack_ and rolled a half-turn on the floor. On a normal day, the noise would have attracted attention, but no one guarded the tower this Friday. Konoha hadn’t the inclination, which was horribly foolish of them. But even if they had, their resources would not have allowed it.

Today, everyone in the city – guests, civilians, and shinobi (save for a few patrols on the outer wall) – celebrated the life of the Third Hokage. She imagined the pomp and circumstance and all the petty praise Konoha would grant their fallen Kage – and here she was, digging up his dirt and sifting through his old shit.

Speaking of which… Rasu paused to crack an ear towards the ceiling. She was at this moment closer to the Hokage’s office than she’d ever been. She ran a gloved hand over the curve of the nearest scroll. What secrets – what forgotten knowledge – was hidden in this room? She wiped a hand down her face under the mask, mentally preparing herself for the next task, when a flurry of white feathers careened into the room, talons outstretched towards her face.

At the last second she snapped out an arm for Shiro to land on. He was a white owl, a summon granted to her by her village, and he was chattering away angrily. She listened for a moment before scowling beneath the hood and mask. Those Akatsuki bastards. They’re here even earlier than expected, she scowled. And making her leave without her _pi èce de résistance_. How positively infuriating.

She tipped her head back to stare for a second at the ceiling and to imagine the Hokage desk above. Forcing a deep breath in and out to calm her nerves, she reached out and snatched the nearest two most lucky-looking scrolls, then touched Shiro lightly and inclined her head in his direction.

With her summon's teleportation, they landed in team Taki’s temporary Konoha apartment with a thud. Sighing, she straightened, turning for her pack, when movement caught her eye.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rasu barked at the genin, who was backing into the bathroom with a kunai held defensively. Rasu ripped off her ANBU mask so the girl could see she was no threat. The genin were _all_ supposed to be at the ceremony, so why was she here?

"Sensei said to come here and wait for you," the girl stared at her ANBU mask fearfully, not understanding why Sagami would be dressed like a Leaf ninja. "Why weren't you at the ceremony, Sagami-senpai?"

"No time for that," she barked. "What is it?"

"Sensei said to wait for you, tell you, 'they're here.' Said you'd know what it means." Her gaze flicked to Shiro, now perched on Rasu's shoulder.

Rasu nodded. "I know. I won't be returning to Waterfall with you. Sorry I don't have more time. Train hard."

Shiro twisted his head around this way and that, telling her to _hurry up_. Rasu cast an apologetic glance at the only female genin on Taki’s team and swung her dense backpack onto her shoulders. A second later, owl and human popped out of existence, leaving only a thin share of moisture in their wake.


	2. the long game

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were irritated by the unwelcome chatter of someone else's summon, but didn't have to wait long before the annoying little white owl returned with his master. Rasu and owl appeared before them in a flash, shaking water everywhere as she winked into existence.

Itachi instantly recognized her attire as Konoha ANBU and palmed a kunai, but the kunoichi straightened up, removed her mask, and shook out her hood to let it fall to her shoulders, looking very much at ease with her situation. Not ANBU, then. He looked her up and down from under the brim of his wide bamboo sugegasa, taking in the very strange sight of an unfamiliar shinobi approaching with no weapon drawn. How strange.

Kisame measured her equally. Her blue hair was much lighter than his and was a sweat-matted tangle not quite reaching her shoulders. Blue eyes pointedly stared at him, clear and determined, mouth a stiff line - a portrait of impassivity. But there was a vibration of nervousness as well. The hand that held her mask shook, and her body was tense. Her obvious fear delighted him. 

Rasu fixed the pair with a stony deadpan, taking great care to appear at once unthreatening and confident, though inside her nerves burned with anxiety. The thrum of haste fled her body, leaving her cold and breathless. Months of preparation had taken her through this exact moment in her complicated mission, but the real Akatsuki was not something you could ever prepare for. There they were, in flesh and blood and murderous infamy. 

Leaning heavily on long hours of rote practice, she blinked away and gave them both a small bow of respect. "Akatsuki." A statement, not a question. "I carry a message to your leader from my home village of Takigakure." Rasu spoke quickly and to the one whose face was visible. Hoshigaki Kisame, she remembered, looking into his off-color face and shock of dark blue hair. Formerly of Mist, confirmed by the symbol on his hitae-ate. Instead of wearing his sugegasa, he held it carefully at his side. His other hand held the strap of the largest sword sheath she'd ever seen.

The Hoshigaki must have felt her gaze on the great-sword, because he took a moment to reach up and grasp its hilt before saying, "by all means, tell us what the village hidden behind a waterfall should want from the Akatsuki." It sounded like he was mocking her, but Rasu couldn't be sure. Don't think about who they are, she reprimanded herself.

She steeled herself. "You should know that I am tasked with presenting to your leader in person or not at all." Neither black-cloaked person replied, prompting her to wonder if she'd already said the thing that would get her killed. She fought panic and forced her body to stay still, though her hand itched to perform seals that would carry her far, far away.

Her eyes drew to the movement of the Hoshigaki's partner lifting the brim of his sugegasa by a thumb, and she found herself facing the sharingan. Rasu had never seen them in person before; only pictures. She thought foremost that they were so very red. They were the kind of red that had not a trace of any other color: the purest red. Her eyes flicked from one inky black tomoe to another, watching him watch her. They were very faintly spinning, making the effect of tracing them dizzying. From somewhere to the side the Hoshigaki opened his mouth in a toothy grin, which was when Rasu realized that the moment had stretched out and the sharingan, large in her field of view, were much closer to her than she thought.

So she twitched when the former Konoha-nin Uchiha Itachi spoke from a distance of two paces, when she'd been standing more than five paces away. Her shoulders seized and lifted, and she sucked in a breath as she came back to herself and her surroundings. When had he moved? "Convey to us your village's purpose in sending you," was what he said. He spoke clearly and without inflection, though the intensity of his stare spoke volumes.

Kisame too was peering at her expectantly from a more respectable distance, and by his light touch the great-sword swayed against his shoulder. The both of them were waiting for her to speak, and she contemplated the tension for a moment – the men like coiled springs, ready to strike at any false movement, any wrong answer. It was like watching a cat poised and ready to strike at any movement of a cornered mouse, only in this situation she was the mouse.

Do not show them fear were among the orders that flitted through her mind. She was fairly sure she’d already thrown that one out of the water – but who could blame her? Gathering up composure as much as possible, she raised her eyes to meet the sharingan's gaze – unwise, foolish, downright reckless, but there was no choice. The only way for them to respect you is to demand respect. "I have my orders, Uchiha-san, as I'm sure you have yours. I must speak to the leader of Akatsuki.”

Itachi didn't like repeating himself, so he hesitated before doing so and then decided against it. "You must not misunderstand. You are asking a great deal of us while giving nothing. Before we consider presenting you to our leader, you must explain to us why we should keep you alive to do so." The emphasis he ground into the latter phrase confirmed that he was not a man for ambiguity or games.

Rasu considered his words and her choices carefully, but she was preoccupied with maintaining eye contact. It wasn’t the red that unnerved her, so much as the knowledge of its capacity in the hands of this particular demon. Staring into his eyes was like bordering on the edge of an intensity that she didn’t fully comprehend. She tightened her grip on the red and white ANBU mask involuntarily as she felt it slipping across her sweaty palm. 

Then preparation kicked in to mercifully override her fear, and she took a breath.

"Takigakure is aware that Akatsuki wishes to overthrow Konoha, and we have drawn up a truce agreement, which I am tasked with presenting to your leader,” she summarized quickly and without pause. “Konoha has abused its power for too long, and Taki is not the only shinobi nation to believe so. I have just come from Konoha's own scroll-house in their Kage tower, where I gathered intelligence on their mechanisms in the second and third shinobi wars.” Her voice was painfully shaky. 

"I don't even need to know where your operations are located," Rasu concluded carefully. "We could teleport in and out at your direction."

"No," Itachi all but interrupted. He had listened with rapt interest. Assuming her truthfulness, Pein needed to hear about this.

"Not possible," Kisame filled in, "to teleport." He looked to Itachi. Shared understanding passed between them. Both nodded, then the Uchiha turned and started walking away. Rasu hoped her relief at no longer being the subject of his unnerving red gaze wasn't visible.

"We're traveling north," Kisame growled. "Don't slow us down." Kisame tilted his head towards the stiff-standing kunoichi in a look that said, "we won't wait for you". He meant for her to travel between them – Akatsuki. In typical shinobi fashion, she nodded her consent.

Then she sidestepped Kisame's menacing person and forced herself to walk after the Uchiha, on the highest alert. Playing the long game, she thought. The longest game of her life. 

Kisame smirked at her back; the girl’s robotic movements conjured images of a certain stiff and proper young Uchiha.


	3. the test begins

October 6, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 03:25pm, somewhere North of Konohagakure.

Rasu skipped ahead of the Hoshigaki and shook her head in an attempt to clear her dizziness. First contact with Akatsuki probably could not have gone any smoother. She looked for the Uchiha’s direction in the trees in front. Ok. Travelling now. She set off at a brisk jog towards the North. The Hoshigaki followed, silently watching.

They would be judging her, she knew. Every move she made was an answer to a test that she had to take blind. Her mission had only, truly, just begun.

"Konoha did not welcome us," Kisame was suddenly running beside her, baring his teeth and making the understatement of the year sound like an inside joke.

She glanced over. "Were you followed?"

"That mess of a city doesn't have the manpower to stalk us with a full team right now. Still," he paused in the Uchiha's direction, "they can't _not_ track us. It’s in their fool’s blood."

Rasu nodded. "Because of him." _Family annihilator_. _Demon of the most horrific massacre in recent history_. She forced the disgust from her mind, as it would do her no good to murderously loathe the ones she had to work with.

Kisame nodded back. " _Someone_ from there is following us. Guaranteed." He looked up. "We should take to the trees."

"I'm…faster on the ground,” she admitted, taking off in the Uchiha's direction as if to prove it. Kisame sprinted and caught her easily, feet tap-tapping in the trees above.

The tall man shouted down. " _Slower_ on the ground, you mean. Slower than we travel, looks like..." He was implying something, there, with his judging glance and trailed off sentence. Truth was, Rasu couldn’t run or even walk in the trees, so she was bound to the earth.

"Tch," Kisame chided at her elected silence. He bounded ahead to where his partner had taken the early lead.

"She is weak," Kisame kept his voice down. "She runs on the ground instead of the trees. I don’t think she knows how.”

Itachi didn't turn. Fire country was unique in that the thick-limbed _Sou_ tree dominated its forests. The _Sou_ were layered trees, wherein the gap between upper and lower sets of branches was typically tall enough for a man to stand comfortably. They were actually somewhat of a novelty in the tree world, existing only in the heart of Fire, with a smattering along the nearest Water islands. The majority of the shinobi world's forests were unsuitable for such travel, and while most shinobi travelled through Fire frequently, perhaps this one had not. Itachi said as much. "Not all shinobi have the opportunity to travel far from their homeland. It’s regrettable, but of no consequence."

"Why would Waterfall send a kunoichi who's never travelled this way to Fire?" Kisame shrugged. "For her sake, I hope she can keep up."

"Hm," was all he got in response.

"Hey, kunoichi-san," Kisame started out when he fell back in step with Rasu, "I'm warning you right now, we have a lot of ground to cover. We're already slowing down because of you."

"I'm fast," she asserted, testily to keep her voice from shaking. No time for a _what if they left me behind._ She _was_ fast, and her stamina was _excellent_ , but she had to _prove it_.

"You'd better _stay_ fast," he pressed further. "Don't make us regret it,” he warned, just to get in the last word. Rasu let out a breath and silently apologized to her body for the strain it was about to take.

* * *

Two hours later, Rasu was still in her ANBU disguise – the mask was hot around her face, but she welcomed the anonymity. And anyway, she hadn't had time to change. The constant twinge of physical exertion was not comfortable, but she was pleased by Kisame’s admission that they slowed their pace slightly. It meant that even the two black-cloaked missing-nin had to admit that her mission was important enough to escort her, not leave her in the dust.

The further they traveled, the thicker the woods became. They were heading north-northwest, generally away from Konoha and avoiding towns, roads, footpaths, and the like. Northwest Fire country was an expanse of rocky, hilly terrain that would only get rockier and hillier until eventually giving way to the ring of post-volcanic mountains giving Fire country its name. Long dormant, the mountain range was a natural boundary between Fire and its northwestern neighbors – including Taki.

She smirked beneath her ANBU mask. At present, she was following the Hoshigaki’s lead, while the Uchiha was trailing the both of them from her blind spot. Rasu turned to visually affirm his location.

The Uchiha was a blur of black and red that didn't catch her eye, but she knew it must be his turn to judge her. Had been for a while. The clan killer at her back had her hackles up and a shiver buzzing along her spine. Slowly, she turned forwards and watched Kisame's boots, a blur from branch to branch, air whistling past at their fast clip.

Still feeling the Uchiha's eyes on her, she resolved not to look again.

"Can I answer any questions, Uchiha-san?" Rasu called out, continuing with her jog.

"You're getting slower," he commented back, more curious than irritated. Itachi was well used to traveling through the lower branches of the _Sou_ , making good use of his chakra as he propelled himself from branch to branch using very little energy. He honestly had expected this girl diplomat to tire before now, but she persisted over many hours. But, he supposed, all stamina ran out eventually. She just had an abnormally high store of it.

"Oh, I'm just getting in the day's exercise," she sang, panting.

Itachi thought it was foolish of her to push herself to impress Kisame and himself – which is what he assumed was her goal. She'd kept her word to Kisame, alternating between 3-minute sprints and 20-minute jogs. He'd weighed the pros and cons of exhausting so much stamina carefully while observing her from above. Ever the analytical mind, Itachi measured her pace with exaction. Her blue hair had gone dark with sweat around the confines of the mask, but there was nothing in her stride to suggest fatigue. He shook his head.

Though Itachi had to admit, the real thing that kept catching his eye was the ANBU standard issue. He had not travelled with someone wearing such gear since before his Konoha defection. Now it was interesting how familiar it was to see the flash of her vest in the peripheral. To be vaguely reminded of his Konoha years.

His eyes sought and found Kisame up above, easily matching the kunoichi's pace in the trees. They weren’t really in a hurry – Kisame only enjoyed making the occasional jibe about pace. There was a little _issue_ they would have to deal with soon, though.

In a blur, Itachi moved to his partner. "This is a good spot for a fight.." Kisame said quietly, as if he’d read Itachi’s mind. He was talking about the shinobi pair that was silently tailing them. Konoha.

“Perhaps,” came the reply before the Uchiha pointedly flickered out of existence. Kisame followed suit, cackling to himself at their dirty trick on the kunoichi.

Rasu started in alarm when she could abruptly no longer sense the Uchiha or the Hoshigaki. But two new chakra signatures were coming up on her, and fast. _Kisame was right_ , she thought. _Shinobi tailing them. ANBU…! those Akatsuki hadn’t even warned her!_

Thinking bitter thoughts, she leapt off the ground to run up the trunk of a large _Sou_ tree, her feet smashing heavily into the bark and leaving imprints. She didn't have time to wince at the display of her less-than-stellar mastery of chakra adhesion because she had to grit her teeth with the effort of pulsing her chakra accurately enough to maintain the climb, then kicked off the underside of a branch to spin down and meet her emerging attacker from a higher ground.

Trusting the tight straps across her chest to keep her pack secure, she whipped out a kunai that clashed with another as two ANBU-clad shinobi scraped past one another.

Itachi and Kisame, skillfully invisible, tracked the movements of the Taki shinobi and of the two Konoha ANBU pursuing her. It was a dirty trick, Kisame agreed, for Itachi to cancel out the enemy's chakra to prevent the girl diplomat from sensing them. But it was necessary. She couldn’t even _tree-walk_ , yet her village had sent _her_ to the world’s most fearsome organization? _An insult_. They needed to see her fight.

They watched the back and forth parry between one authentic ANBU and one fake, back on the packed ground and locked in a fierce hand-to-hand. Kisame watched Rasu's kunai whirl and dodge through the air, never still and always quick to guard her mid-section. The taller, real ANBU was quick too, though.

Itachi watched how her feet moved in a flurry of tap-tap forward, tap-tap back, slide-tap as her body arched to the right to avoid her opponent's kunai. Her movements were tight but elaborate – almost flamboyant in their exaggerated strikes and deep follow-throughs. An upper-strike here swerved into a cross-block to her chest there, followed by a block-and-parry glanced off the metal back of her glove. Passable taijutsu.

Rasu turned to shatter an arc of senbon blown to her by a strong wind jutsu, only to realize _too late_ it was a diversion, meant to and _succeeding_ in making her slow her footwork enough for roots to burst from the ground and wrap around her ankles. Staggering, she grunted and twisted around in a backwards swipe, but the ANBU easily dodged her ineffective jab and knocked the kunai out of her hand with the butt of his blade, drawing a hiss from the fake ANBU. Sub-par defense.

With her right arm immobilized, her left clenched and made to slam into his shoulder blade, but the roots leapt the distance to her fist and just about wrenched her arm from its socket. There would be no escaping those roots. Itachi narrowed his eyes. Lets see how she uses her strategy.

Her eyes opened wide when the second enemy closed in from behind with killing intent. Kisame looked over to where Itachi crouched, locked on the scuffle. The Mist-nin took a cue from his partner and did not interfere, though he fidgeted.

They watched the rear enemy ANBU skewer her right through the middle of her chest. But instead of blood blooming, her whole body exploded into water right as the blade peaked through, like a water balloon burst by a needle, scattering a fine mist in all directions and showering the closer ANBU in an icy chill.

The moisture in the air briefly obscured Itachi's view of the rear ANBU, who at that moment jerked with some unforeseen tragedy. His killer kicked at the ground and _back_ , vaulting over the now-dead man in a high straight-legged arc. The other nin had a reaction time advantage and dodged the mid-air kunai strike Rasu took at his neck, but the shock of the icy water made him too slow to avoid the momentum-driven booted heel slammed into the back of his neck, breaking it on impact. Passable strategy.

Rasu's hot breath coated the inside of her mask uncomfortably, so she ripped it off in a flurry of blue hair. How did Akatsuki like _that_ , hm? She grumbled under her breath as she retrieved her kunai.

"Your chakra is even lower," Itachi observed, calm and even, like she hadn't just killed two men. Rasu whirled to face him. The man tipped his head to the side, "when did you switch to a bushin?"

Kisame heaved a sigh as he too emerged from the foliage. "Don't annoy the kunoichi with your rhetoricals, Itachi. _I_ for one am glad to see some fun, finally."

Rasu was relieved Kisame took away her need to reply. “You.. you did that on purpose!” She accused instead.

Kisame smirked. "Hoshigaki Kisame, kunoichi. Making your official acquaintance." He held out a hand.


	4. history is written by the winners

"Takigakure chose you as their representative, so you must be among their most able shinobi. If _you_ could not match the skill of Konoha's ANBU, then Akatsuki would have little interest in contracts with your village," Itachi explained when they finally stopped for the night.

After putting distance between them and the fallen ANBU, the trio had slowed their pace to a walk to find a decent place to make camp. They found one in the shade of a few tall _Sou_. There, Rasu had finally asked for confirmation of her accusation that they had led her into the ambush.

"It's not a contract," she corrected. "It's an _alliance_. Contract implies that we consider you to be mercenaries for hire, which is _not_ our intention."

She made camp awkwardly, aware of two pairs of wandering eyes. Setting up her bedroll between the fire and a tree, building her little hanging kettle to heat water for tea, sitting crosslegged on a mat and tearing rations into small pieces. Her hands shook, but she needed the familiarity of routine and to _appear_ unbothered by her situation.

They fell into silence. Rasu, had nothing else to say to them. And she assumed they did not usually have guests. For their part, they pretended like she was not there. A seat-sized log appeared near their fire a little before sundown – a substitution jutsu? It was not there when she wandered off to fetch water for tea.

Sagami hated missing-nin. They were traitors – lawless, selfish, with no purpose in life but to cause havoc and suffering for others. Only through loyalty, sacrifice, and trust could there be peace in the world. Missing-nin had none of those qualities. Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi were emblematic of everything that Rasu detested – betrayers and demons, both of them. It was out of an abundance of love for her village that she had accepted this mission that required constant contact with the most dangerous missing-nin, the worst of the worst.

She selected one of the scrolls from her raid on Konoha’s Kage tower. Konoha was selfish, too. Only Takigakure had earned her trust and admiration. She averted her eyes from the Uchiha and the Hoshigaki and turned to more important matters - analyzing the contents of Konoha’s past.

The document was a transcription of the second Kage summit. At the front of the scroll was a neat row of five seals, belonging to the five most powerful people of that era. Based on Rasu's basic history knowledge, the First Shinobi War had passed and a truce between the five so-called 'great nations' had tentatively sprung up, though not without resentments. Yawning already, she began to peruse the transcript.

The parchment was faded, but the five seals stood out like they were pressed yesterday. The beginning was uninteresting, with long strings of formalities and pleasant words to and from each Kage amidst the actual discussion. But it was a convincing history lesson.

Context told her that the First Shinobi War had lasted two years. During that time, Wind Country was the only one of the Five Nations not to lose its Kage in battle.

The Summit was called and hosted by the also young Second Mizukage: Houzuki Gengetsu, who'd replaced his master after the former Mizukage was slain in the war. Sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen—who replaced Senju Tobirama—was the Hokage whose seal adorned the scroll; at 20 years old, the youngest Kage ever to be appointed, then and now. Her nail tapped on the old wax.

The whole of the Summit was interestingly concerned with the protection and ownership of a landmark which to Rasu’s knowledge no longer existed: the Kannabi Bridge in Kusa's highlands, on the border with Earth country. Iwa was concerned that this bridge should be under the close guard of _Iwa_ shinobi, as it was apparently the most traveled trade route into their country. It was decided that Iwa was free to guard it even though the border was technically a half-mile _past_ it. Kusa not only owned the bridge, but the Grass village had _built_ it. Yet Grass representatives were not even invited to this Summit, so they necessarily had no say in the treatment of their own landmark. Just another instance of the five largest nations making decisions for the smaller, lesser territories. It couldn’t even be called paternalistic – Iwa wanted control of the bridge for entirely selfish trade reasons.

Rasu glanced quickly across the small fire when Kisame broke the silence. He was barely visible, sitting a ways away from their fire. "I know Itachi won't tell me, but I'm _dying_ to know, Taki-san." She supposed 'Taki-san' referred to her not supplying them with a surname. "When _did_ you switch to your bushin?"

Engrossed as she was in her reading, it took her a moment to recall what he was talking about. When his words registered her head snapped to the Uchiha. He was looking at her again, but the now-glaring light of the hovering fire and the darkness of the enveloping canopy of leaves starkly shadowed his face. Rasu was beginning to realize that an unreadable expression was the Uchiha's MO.

"You didn't really think you could get away with being a bushin in that fight without those sharingan noticing, did you?" Kisame answered her unasked question, amused by the unintentional surprise across her face. " _I_ was delightfully fooled, but not _that_ guy."

"I suppose not," she realized.

Itachi looked at her a second more before resuming his reading. Rasu wanted to make a childish face at him, but instead she turned back to peer at Kisame before finally replying to his inquiry. "I switched during my hand-to-hand with that first ANBU.” A ninja did not reveal her secrets wantonly.

Kisame stared at her blankly while mulling over the fight. "Damn, I didn't see a _thing_." Rasu felt a smile tug at her over the way this was bothering the man.

"Your extended age-barai-uke* left an opening that the enemy's eye was invariably drawn to," Itachi interjected, "giving you opportunity to perform the necessary seals across your kunai with stealth." He was right, of course, having caught it in his sharingan. Upon engaging the first shinobi, Rasu had drawn a quick sketch of a plan in her mind. She'd switched to a bushin with the intention of tricking the second enemy into revealing himself. To do so, she'd landed a glancing blow to the opposing kunai, sweeping hers up in a slow, two-handed arc. The resulting opening to her torso drew her opponent's gaze for just a second, but that was enough to perform seals across the hilt and drop a discorporated bushin in the ground.

"Eheh," Kisame agreed, leaning back, " _fast_ , but that would _never_ work against a sharingan." Rasu flicked her eyes over the Uchiha’s again, engaging the red. A disturbing sensation of ‘ _you are being threatened’_ crept up her spine. She couldn’t hope to best either one of them with the tricks she prided herself on, and her fight-or-flight response was making her very aware of that fact.

She looked away first.

Rasu stayed up, reading late into the night. The Uchiha leaned upright against a tree, head bent down. The Hoshigaki lay on his side with his back to the fire. She appreciated the fact that they kept the fire going, too. She supposed, for that, she could take watch. They hadn't talked about it, so Rasu had to assume either they expected her to stay up for it, or that their chakra sensing abilities were so automatic as to be functional even in slumber. It was probably the latter.

Still, she supposed, she should take watch for _herself_ if not for them. She had no illusions about their loyalties.

* * *

October 9, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 7:45am, somewhere in Northwestern Fire Country.

Her feet slapped the earth heartily, but Rasu panted beneath her thick ANBU mask. The trip from Taki to Konoha with her genin took two weeks, and they moved at no small clip. At the rate Akatsuki was pushing, they could make the same distance in half the time or less, and Rasu was suffering for it.

Her journey was made worse by the uneven, brush-covered forest floor, which grew thicker as they moved deeper into Fire, the terrain rockier and more drastically sloped. She had to watch her step or trip on loose rocks, and she cursed the Mist-nin with every uphill climb.

He led the way; she and the Uchiha fanned out behind.

"Why haven't we used game trails?" she probed gingerly, dodging a root. The even pack of the game trails was the route they took on their way into the country, and she'd found them reliable.

"ANBU use them," the Uchiha said simply. His voice carried marvelously despite the distance between them.

She curled her lip. "ANBU doesn't travel in the _trees_?" She'd meant it to sound light, but her growing tiredness made it rude.

"ANBU," he ignored her tone, "travel on the ground _and_ in the trees. That way they stay spread out, even when travelling in close vertical formation." Itachi had always been a 'treetop' ANBU, first by ability, then by necessity, as captains were always awarded the best vantage point to better direct their squads.

Rasu almost sneered at his sensible explanation. Whenever the Uchiha spoke, it was with patience, deliberation, and wisdom. Infuriating. "Why don’t you run on the ground for a while?" she suggested instead, daring him to do what she did. She didn't know whether to expect a response. The Uchiha was so _guarded_ , beyond even what she would expect from a missing-nin. But then, Uchiha Itachi was not a _normal_ missing-nin.

But he did fall into step a few paces behind her, because he was curious what sort of perspective this mysterious shinobi from Takigakure was used to. In their short time together (four days and counting) he already knew that her owl summon was issued and regulated by her hidden village. He knew where the hidden pouches in her backpack were, how she prepared tea, that her early morning routine include stretching, situps, and kata, that her stamina was comparable to Kisame’s, and that she hated both of them. He knew that her poker face was not as good as she would want them to believe – he could read her hatred for him plain as day in the flashes of involuntary expression she wasn't quick enough to hide. And while he did not welcome traveling with someone with such obvious disdain for him, it was hardly surprising.

"Why did Takigakure choose _you_ for this mission?" He wondered aloud. It was of course a rhetorical question, but one that he hoped would be answered soon. Clearly Takigakure regarded her skills highly, for them to send her to the likes of Akatsuki and expect her to hold her own.

The person in question twisted her head around to glance at him through the slits in the ANBU mask. "My village has faith in me, Uchiha-san," she called back, breathing hard. She still wore the same ANBU standard issue. My, what a strange trio that would appear—two Akatsuki travelling with Konoha ANBU—should anyone have the misfortune of crossing their path.

"I'm sure they do." Rasu couldn't tell from his tone whether he was being sincere or condescending. She turned fully forwards and shook her head. Even knowing he was harmlessly traveling with her it was unnerving to glance back and see him following. With the way her heartbeat quickened and his red eyes stood out against the tree-line it felt like she was running away from him.

Like Itachi, Rasu had come to understand a few things about her traveling partners in the few days following their introduction.

First, they ate a lot of fish. There was fish at every meal, practically; fresh caught, served with re-hydrated vegetables and sometimes a packet of noodles. The nins took well advantage of the rushing streams that slithered over the country, meager compared to the wide rivers and tall rapids of Waterfall country, but still speckled with slivers of edible white meat.

Second, the Uchiha did not do the fishing. He preferred to sit and poke at it while it cooked, whereas his partner took an almost comically enthusiastic approach to catching the little buggers. The one time she watched the Hoshigaki at the art, she admired his skill with the _yari**_. When the Hoshigaki was in too foul a mood for games, he once used water jutsu to divert a section of a stream into a suspended ball, which he dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Their dinner never had a chance.

Third, they cared little about her mission. At least, outwardly. Rasu caught the Mist-nin staring at her a little too long, looking thoughtful. Thoughtfulness was uncharacteristic for him as far as she knew. She wondered why he stared. With each other, it was obvious they were well-acquainted simply through years of partnership.

What she knew of Hoshigaki Kisame implied a volatile loner. Perhaps he just wasn't used to having a third person around. That must be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: After the Warring States period, I like to think the modern era, so to speak, was born, and thus, the start of the year '00'. '00' coincides with the founding of Konoha, since it was, you know, the first shinobi nation to emerge out of the Warring States period (canon). Then, the present year is 69, which is exactly the 69th year since the founding of the shinobi nation system.
> 
> *age-barai-uke is an upper sweeping block, common Japanese martial arts terminology  
> **yari refers to a type of long spear


	5. complacency

October 9, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 9:30pm, somewhere in Northwestern Fire Country.

When they made camp on the evening of the fourth day, they were almost at the edge of Fire. Rasu sighed and collapsed onto the ground. For four days, she matched their pace. The second day had been torture after a sleepless first night in their company. Her body was well-conditioned and used to exerting herself in this way, truthfully, yet Akatsuki still pushed her to the limits of her endurance. A very low resting heart rate was the result of being conditioned to operate at high rates of oxygen intake, so it was her muscles that would necessarily tire before her chest and lungs felt any pain. While she could—and did—push chakra into the strained tissue to push off exhaustion, she had no means to increase _speed_. Without the ability to use chakra adhesion efficiently, she could not use bursts to propel from stride to stride without wasting it at an excessive rate.

So she was, in a word, tired.

Rasu dragged herself into her nightly routine. Bedroll. Teakettle. Water. Mat. Rations.

“Why does Takigakure seek the Akatsuki?”

She glanced up and into the expectant and bored face of the Uchiha. Eyes always red. In her pre-mission study of him, she learned that it was not normal for the sharingan to be visible at all times. Most Uchiha just activated it for battle. It was speculated that Uchiha Itachi kept it on as a display of strength. Rasu wondered if he liked his eyes red. Did they reflect the demon inside?

Rasu blinked, formulating her thoughts. Under her belt were countless drills, rehearsals, and staring contests with her team _specifically_ in an attempt to prepare her for Uchiha Itachi's sharingan. They were designed around getting her body trained to a specific reaction. Staring contests had seemed trivial and ineffective – even hilariously stupid, but the sharingan were truly nothing like she could have imagined. She was glad for the practice holding an even gaze.

Her face softened. "Leaders believe that we need this alliance to secure Konoha's defeat."

"And do you agree with them?"

"Waterfall is a small country," she answered. "There is a tactical advantage. But…" Speaking of it wasn't disloyalty, but she still averted her eyes.

“But what?”

She would have said nothing if not for some shaky confidence that her mission was interesting - which it was! "Personally, I worry allying with a fringe group damages the reputation we are setting." She bobbed her head. "Still, it's not my place to contradict the wishes of my hidden village, Uchiha-san, regardless of my own impressions."

"Perhaps not," the missing-nin mused. Rasu stared back at his unreadable eyes, feeling a chill creep up her spine. She knew a bit about the past of the infamous Uchiha as well as quite a few rumors. What she could see of his face – red eyes, deep periorbital boundaries, top of a straight nose – appeared ordinary. Sitting next to Kisame especially, he coded almost feminine, helped by his longer hair – Rasu didn't know _how_ long, hidden as it was by his high-necked collar – and soft bangs. In comparison, Kisame's features were blunt and jagged. Their bingo book images did neither man justice, particularly because the only reliable front-facing image of the Uchiha was taken seven years ago, when he was 13.

Her trance was broken when Kisame caught her looking, so she decided to dig out another of the stolen scrolls and start her investigation. So much the better if she could avoid interacting with criminal infamy and focus on something more meaningful for a few hours.

"It is fortunate for Takigakure," Itachi started the conversation anew, "that to most of the world, Akatsuki is still a mystery. This will not be the first time we have contracted with a hidden village. Most contracts are unsavory, but such is the ninja way. You believe your goal to be noble, and as you have gathered, our organization shares a similar goal. Akatsuki, too, has a reputation to uphold."

Rasu paused and stared hard. It was the longest string of words she'd heard out of the man's mouth, and without any prompting. How to reply? _Should_ she reply? Itachi was considered one of the most brilliant minds in tactics back when he was ANBU – should she show him she was no idiot, or keep silent?

Kisame tore off a piece of jerky with his teeth, speaking between chews. "Our reputation is for getting things _done_. We give you credibility _and_ firepower."

Her brows knit together as she thought it out, choosing the former. "Maybe I presume too much, but isn’t political credibility different from tactical credibility?” Neither answered immediately, so Rasu barreled on. “I would think it beneficial to gain support from hidden villages first. In a battle between villages, seems like village allies would have the most credibility."

Kisame shook his head as Itachi answered. "It is a good choice to contact Akatsuki first," Itachi went on. "Other political entities come with complications that it would be unwise to introduce early on. First you establish that you have the firepower to succeed; _that_ is what you need to win support from sympathetic countries. On their own, these small countries: Kusa, Ame, Téa, River, have their own agenda. Entering into a _rebellion_ – and it is _rebellion_ we speak of – is a distribution of responsibility, a _liability_ that most countries would be wary of – and rightly so, against a foe such as Konoha."

Kisame spoke up. "Basically, talking to other countries too soon would just slow you down. They hesitate too much to be useful. Akatsuki does not hesitate."

"A hidden village deliberates before it acts," Rasu realized aloud. "Tensions must be tested, ties evaluated. _Akatsuki_ has no such reservations."

Rasu looked down at her hands tightening on the scroll case in her lap. Damn. Here she was, talking tactics with Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, and they schooled her in four sentences. "That is partially the reason for my looking into Konoha's past,” she admitted. “It’s the hope that countries will join us if they knew what Konoha has been doing all these years.” Konoha’s war crimes, at least, was a topic she felt strongly confident about.

Itachi narrowed his eyes a fraction. _He_ knew better than anyone what types of things Konoha would do to keep itself in power. He had no doubt he would find her new scrolls _highly_ interesting. It was time to test boundaries. “I would like to see the scrolls you took from my village. May I?”

She gave him a look. “I prefer to evaluate them on my own, Uchiha-san." ‘My village’ her ass – that was psychological coercion: implying his Konoha ties was supposed to make her feel like he had a right to the scrolls, and she should feel subconsciously obligated to hand them over. He had about as much a right to them as she did, which was to say, none at all. And yet… he could have used fear, but he chose a tactic which he should know wouldn’t work on a diplomat. The fact that he was _polite_ made her wary. And being wary made her afraid. It all ran in circles, she thought as she sighed internally.

"Daylight will be gone soon." He countered, gesturing to the sky. "We have perhaps only four nights before we reach Iwagakure."

Rasu didn't bother hiding her surprise. " _Iwa_?" She asked incredulously, taking the cap off of the thin tube to pull out the scroll within. The criss-cross of mountain ranges between Fire and Earth weaved around the smaller territories. Because of the relative truce between Fire and Stone, the four known valley-passes to Iwa were heavily traveled. Iwakakure itself was an impressive feat of stone that sprawled out from the far side of one of the rockiest mountains north of Kusa. It was also Waterfall's western neighbor.

"You have a base in _Iwa_?" She said again.

"You could say that," he replied, rising to walk over to her seated form. “If you allow me the chance to examine the scrolls, I will illuminate the area so we can both read after daylight ends.”

Rasu tracked his movements warily, but she still unrolled her prize. He was right: daylight was almost gone. Once they made contact with the rest of Akatsuki, she did not know how much time she would have to examine the scrolls before she had to hand them over to her village.

“I’m not going to alter or destroy it, if that’s your concern.” It wasn’t her concern. Her concern was that he was a demon, and she didn’t know if he would destroy _her_. He was so close to her now that she could see the stitching bordering the red and white clouds. She wanted to scoot as far away from him but forced herself to stay still.

If he sensed her tension, he ignored it. He made three seals and blew across two fingers. Fire followed his breath and collected into a glowing ball, throwing their small campsite into contrast. He casually glanced down at the scroll and back at her. "May I?" He asked politely, tipping one side of his face towards the flame.

She nodded, dipping her eyes down after a second of considering his offer: light in exchange for reading material. That was… fair. She handed him the transcript of the Second Kage Summit that she had read on their first night. “Will this do?” She stared at him a moment longer before delving back into history.

The pair read quietly for a long while. Rasu shivered, more from the proximity of the Uchiha than the cold.

* * *

October 10, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 11:00am, somewhere in Northwestern Fire Country.

The next morning, Rasu woke up late – and paranoid. Emerging from sleep put her instantly wary, and she winced as she flexed out her sore muscles. All of the energy she felt from last night's discussion drained out of her body when she looked around and saw neither missing-nin. Must've run off for breakfast, her groggy mind reasoned. A second later she realized her error.

She lurched upright and was promptly hit with a wave of nausea. She rolled over and retched reflexively. _Genjutsu_ , she realized faintly. It left a numb heavy shock in the pit of her stomach: they weren’t getting breakfast, they were gone. _Gone_ gone. It was that blasted Uchiha, she realized. He must have weaved her into the genjutsu last night.

What the hell was she _thinking_ , letting herself succumb to exhaustion like that? Had she really been _that_ complacent in the last few days, that she just _assumed_ once they agreed to take her with them that they wouldn't run off without her if she fell behind their schedule? That they wouldn't evaluate her skills to find if she was even worth the trouble? Stupid, she was so _stupid_.

She wasn’t cut out for this mission after all. She stared at her hands curling into fists in her lap, chest and arms going icy-hot. Did she come on too strong last night? If her mission failed because she had offended them, her village would never send her out again. The embarrassment would kill her. Tears stung her eyes and she furiously blinked them away. Her face flushed.

 _Wait!_ Did they steal— she lurched around. No, a scroll rested on top—that was the Kage Summit transcription. So the Uchiha hadn’t stolen anything.

Out of nowhere, Kisame's hand clamped down on her mouth, making her jump but muffling her indignation. "We've got to move," he hissed. "Quiet." Her things flew into her backpack and were then shoved at her.

"How long have you been gone?" she glowered, wiping her face and eyes with a sleeve and reaching around her bedroll. "Where is your partner?"

"Come on," Kisame urged. Rasu wrenched out of his grasp.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," she accused. "You put me under a genjutsu!"

Kisame rolled his eyes, not denying it. "We had no choice; you couldn't come where we went. We got into some trouble… Itachi is ahead of us; we're going to jump to his location."

"What trouble?" Her glower deepened.

Kisame crossed his arms. "Sorry, Taki. That's need-to-know. Now if you want to come _with_ _me_ you'd better pick up your shit; otherwise I'm _leaving_."

"I'm coming," she snapped. "Hmph."

When the water from Kisame's teleportation technique cleared, they stood next to his partner. The Uchiha was a lot further from their starting point than Kisame assumed, and he could easily see the Taki-nin’s disorientation at being dragged such a distance by someone else's jutsu.

Once she regained her balance, Rasu saw that something was off about the Uchiha. He didn't look at either of them, but she was transfixed. He straightened up at their arrival, like he'd been hunched over. She frowned. If she didn't know better she'd say he was in pain – but how could that be?

"What happened?" she asked again.

"Like I said, Taki," the Hoshigaki growled. "We got into some trouble, and I promise you, this doesn't concern you."

"He cast a _genjutsu_ over me," she hissed, taking a step towards the larger man and pointing at the Uchiha who was still turned away. _"Tell me."_

"Taki," the Uchiha said. His voice was low. "Jiraiya of the Sannin was our adversary. As was… my brother."

Rasu was silenced, hearing her breath exhaling in short puffs and taking in the chill of the forest air. Whatever reverie she had established between herself and the pair over the past few days was shattered by his tone - low, threatening growl. Darkness collected around his person and the air was likewise chilled. It wasn't killing intent, exactly. It was something inexplicable and more dangerous for its unrecognizability. The seriousness of his crimes and danger of his person snapped back into place in her mind. The Uchiha was a tightly wound spring, and at this second it appeared he might snap, consumed by the demons of the stories told about him. She felt fear - staggering fear - at his presence.

* * *

That afternoon, the Hoshigaki started talking to fill the silence and got onto the topic of traitors. They walked through quiet forests, picking their way across the rocky countryside. She dodged around a low-hanging coniferous branch. The Uchiha was totally silent, leading them around boulders and impassible ravines. A mid October misty chill hung low around the base of thick, rough trees. Every inhale chilled her lungs.

“If I’m lucky, you might get to meet _Kakuzu_ ,” Kisame speculated, tapping his chin in mock contemplation. His eye glinted with a spark of villainous glee, telling a different story about his intentions.

“Kakuzu,” Rasu spat out like dirty water. He was well-known in their village. Well hated. Their most infamous _traitor_. “I have no reason to contact him, Hoshigaki-san.” She bristled at the mention of the former Taki shinobi and was practically statuesque with concealed tension.

“Really?” He asked innocently. “You sure? You should ask him why he _left_ Takigakure.”

Rasu curled her hands and inhaled deeply, well aware of the Uchiha’s mounting tension. Kakuzu was the _last_ thing she wanted to discuss at this moment. “We know Kakuzu is alive and with Akatsuki,” she stated, throwing glances at the Uchiha to monitor his mood. “We don’t care. _I_ don’t care. If you must know, I’m under orders to ‘live and let live’ as far as this truce is concerned.” _For now_ , _anyway_. _He’ll get his, one day…_

“Hmm, is that so..?”

"My orders are to stay clear." Her tone tried to end the conversation, but the Hoshigaki wasn't having it.

"You always follow orders, kunoichi-san?" One glance at the Uchiha had told her all she needed to know should she escalate anything with his partner: he was still tense, withdrawn, brooding. The menacing intent had subsided over time, but Rasu still maintained a careful distance from him. She and the Hoshigaki walked some distance behind him. She _assumed_ it was over his brother, Uchiha Sasuke. What she didn't know was that their Akatsuki business took them to Shukuba village, where they had intended to capture the Kyuubi vessel and failed.

"Of course I do," she whispered back at the Mist-nin. "But I wouldn't expect you to understand a thing like _loyalty_." You're just letting him get to you, a part of her whispered. But she was still tired, and on edge herself after her morning scare. Not that it was any excuse.

Kisame snorted. "Watch your words," he taunted. "You might have to eat them someday."

Any reply she might have crafted was cut off by the Uchiha. "We are almost there. I am going to put you under a genjutsu." She flinched away, thoughts of Kisame fleeing her head, replaced by indignation and the cold stab of fear.

"Can't have you knowing our location, now can we?" Kisame taunted. “Wasn’t it you who said you didn’t need to know?”

She looked from one Akatsuki to the other. " _Genjutsu_ again," she accused, unable to keep her voice from shaking.

"You needn't worry about coming to harm," Itachi sounded bored – and impatient.

"Not that you have any choice, you know," Kisame finished.

Rasu thinned her lips. She bought herself time by checking the straps on her backpack with slow deliberation. They were close to the border with Earth country now – she could tell by the way the hills rose and fell sharply away, and the growing change in tree families. If they'd wanted her harmed, she wouldn't be standing there now, she reasoned. And they were right – what choice did she have?

There was a tightening in her chest as she raised her head and dragged her eyes up to a pair of red, as always only just visible above his high-necked collar. She paused at the top of his cloak, displaying un-called-for indecision that betrayed her fear of him. Up until now she looked him in the eye whenever possible, always when speaking to him, and often when he spoke. But daring to look into his eyes to prove a point was very different from this. _This_ time he would use them. And _this_ time she was very, _very_ afraid.

The second of grace period passed, and she had to act. All it took was a small flick of her eyelash to create the line of sight needed to activate the sharingan's genjutsu. One second she stared into the top of Uchiha Itachi's collar, the next she no longer felt her own existence. The only awareness in her mind was a word: _red_.


	6. fearlessness is just practice

"Itachi, your eyes…" Kisame warned when Itachi dropped to one knee in obvious strain. The Mist-nin frowned. Ameterasu always took a lot out of his partner. Damn Jiraiya for interfering. And damn Uchiha Sasuke for showing up at the wrong time.

"They are fine," the stubborn Uchiha said stiffly.

Kisame looked disgruntled. They weren't fine, but Itachi would rather die than admit that. "So long as I don't have to carry her," he huffed.

Itachi gave him a glance and declined to answer such a silly question. Bound by his genjutsu, the Taki-nin would walk herself off a cliff if he bid her do so. "I thought you were getting used to her," Itachi commented offhand.

Kisame shrugged. "Do you know how nice it is to talk to someone _outside_ our organization? To someone other than _you_ , seriously?"

Itachi made a non-committal grunt in response.

"Ex _actly_. Arguing with _you_ is like talking at a _wall_ and no one else gives enough shit to even _have_ an argument. But I'll get her yet."

"Hm."

"So what do you make of her?"

"I had not realized it was necessary to "make" anything of her," his partner replied darkly.

Kisame started to talk back, then shook his head and thought the better of it. Itachi was irritable, and Kisame did not have a death wish. He mumbled something unintelligible and started walking towards their destination.

* * *

Like waking from a dream, Rasu stirred to find herself standing up. Immediately she tensed before recalling recent memory. There were ever-spinning black tomoe on a field of red… the black had spun out in a dizzying circle to spiral into trees with black wings flapping. Wandering, alone, she could move in only a set path, her feet unwilling to change course. There'd been something weird about those black trees and that red sky, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She walked for a long time it seemed, but the landscape remained the same. Black trees, black horizon, red sky. The only sound the _thwump_ of the wings, ceaselessly flapping.

At the end, Uchiha appeared at her side. He covered her eyes with a light tap of his thumb and forefinger, muttered "sleep" without opening his mouth, and all the red dissolved into endless black. Then she opened her eyes to full color.

Rasu took one lurching step and collapsed forward, fighting the nausea bubbling up. She retched reflexively and then grimaced at the display of weakness. It couldn't be helped – genjutsu had tricky, disorienting effects on the body, and it was already not her strong suit. She wiped her mouth with the cloth of her black sleeve and rose, groping for her water bottle.

The Hoshigaki's ghostly skin looked a cheerier hue by the cherry-orange glow of a _katon_. The three stood on packed earth inside some kind of underground passageway.

"We are under the mountain range," the Uchiha supplied in response to her glancing up and around at the surrounding rock. Under the mountain range meant they were somewhere between Waterfall and Rock countries. Passageways had always existed below the mountains, but this one was strange. The air felt hushed and stale; enclosed.

She looked back at the Akatsuki pair, observing the Uchiha in particular. He stared back at her, haughtily she thought. The feeling of darkness had subsided a little, but the underlying intent had not. She bounced glances off the ends of his black bangs and the mark on his hitae-ate, avoiding his eyes. In the instant of his genjutsu she had seen fury there, and sadness, like the mouth of a dark void waiting to swallow her whole.

She shivered the thought away. The man's demons were his alone.

Akatsuki's rocky hideout turned out to be a large circle carved roughly into the mountain. They came up on it from the tunnel in which she had awoken. At a T intersection—the bottom of the circle—they led her to the right. The rock changed color there, dulling to a grey-brown rather than a red-brown. They walked a quarter-turn around the circular passageway and stopped.

“You will meet us here in two hours,” the Hoshigaki informed her. To the right was a set of looming doors, twice her height, shut and locked with a horizontal beam. To the left an open double doorway looked into a furnished living room. Straight ahead the tunnel abruptly darkened as it curved out of sight.

Who is 'us'? she wanted to ask. Would she speak only to their leader, or to the whole organization? He certainly wasted no time - seeing her within two hours of her arrival. All the better. The sooner she delivered their proposition, the sooner she could get on with the next phase of her mission. She nodded.

Next, they walked through the center of the circle – a living room with walls sloping up into a high dome.

The whole structed was cut roughly out of the rock of the mountain just as the passage had been. Electric light wired into wall-mounted figures ringed the room, and there was a bulletin board covered in butcher paper.

They walked through and out into another passageway – presumably the other side of the circle. "That was the common room," the Hoshigaki remarked.

This time they went left and when they came to the fourth door on the right, he opened it. "These rooms are all private – you'll be staying in this one while you're here." The Uchiha was already gone.

"Pein doesn't like lateness," he advised as he brushed past her.

"How many of you are here?" She asked.

Kisame bared his teeth at her. "You'll find out in two hours, won't you?"

"Two hours," Rasu repeated, nodding. He sauntered back down the dark hallway and she cautiously shut the door to total solitude.

In the room was a bed, desk, chair, and freestanding clothes rack. A second door led into the washroom to the right. Two hours was a small amount of time, but she would manage. A shower and a good mouth scrubbing (she _had_ vomited recently) was the first immediate need. A _real_ shower, not a hurried, icy dip in some creek with all her clothes on.

The washroom was long and narrow, and there was a door at the opposite end. She reached out and could feel no presence behind it, but locked it just in case.

There was plumbing and hot water, somehow, but no fan and no vent, so the walls were soon dripping with condensed moisture. She ran a hand under the water, checking the temperature.

It was strange, she thought, how no one seemed to be around. The common room looked obviously used, but vacated, like its occupants had scattered to their corners when she, a stranger, had arrived. All missing-nin were strange, and Akatsuki was a group of distrustful loners, somehow pulled together. She thought back to the stale air in the tunnel. This entire base had to be completely fabricated – if it weren't, there would be airflow and some moisture in the air from the tunnel's exits.

Sighing, she dropped the heavy ANBU vest and pants to the floor. She was alone and inside a structure for the first time since Konoha, and she relished her nakedness and the enveloping steam that curled around her body and filled her lungs. Rasu scrubbed her body clean of the scent of Fire country forests and old sweat, hands running suds along pale arms.

How many of them would be here? It might simply be Pein and an advisor or two. No need to involve the whole of his organization if he was the decision-maker; but then that depended on how he ran his organization. She closed her eyes, imagining herself in a different tub, in a different country. If all went well with her audience she would be headed back to Takigakure for a report – finally. She had been away from home for almost three months. Pein should send an ambassador with her, which would mean associating with _another_ Akatsuki missing-nin. The thought was sour. Associating with missing-nins was a necessary part of her mission description, she reminded herself. A very distasteful part.

A shinobi of greater greed and lesser resolve might be tempted to abandon Takigakure and become a missing-nin like these Akatsuki, but that was a thought Rasu would not entertain. She knew she was chosen for this mission over higher ranked shinobi for exactly that reason. Absolute, unwavering loyalty was a must, and if Rasu was one thing to her village, it was loyal. She would see this thing through to the end. _My body, my_ _country_. Or something like that.

Done with her shower, she unlocked the other door and exited to the bedroom. The stone floor was chilly on her wet feet. Steam from her shower billowed out ahead of her, creating a very dramatic and satisfying entrance.

Putting on her _own_ clothes was a welcome comfort after a week in full Konoha ANBU. She checked the fittings on her pouches, weapons, and guards, and then secured her forehead protector. She checked her pre-prepared notes. She checked herself in a small mirror. Ready.

* * *

October 10th, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 04:00pm, Akatsuki Hideout, somewhere beneath the Akaishi mountain range.

She stepped through heavy double doors into a large chamber - so large that the light did not reach either the far corner or the ceiling. Opposite the doors was a long, thick table; perpendicular from her perspective, and high, like a judge's altar. Seated in the center was the man she recognized as Pein, and to his left Konan, the heads of Akatsuki. Fanning out on either side were six other members:

Uchiha Itachi of Konoha;

Hoshigaki Kisame of Kiri;

Zetsu of unknown origin;

Sasori of the Red Sand of Suna;

Kakuzu of Taki;

Oshiro Tenzen of Kumo*;

Eight deadly missing-nin in total. So many, she marveled. No matter; this changed nothing.

To Rasu, she was nothing more than a messenger at this point, padding softly into the chamber and carrying an armful of scrolls like a scribe. A non-threat. Familiar anxiousness at being the center of attention prickled. She held her head high, gaze forward.

To Itachi, Rasu looked different dressed in her own clothing. Her hitai-ate bore the waterfall symbol and was gash-less; an odd sight in their company. She wore it the traditional way, as he did.

Physically, the kunoichi was smaller than she'd been in her oversize ANBU now that her attire fit well, but her command of the room was larger than life. Her footfalls were silent as she padded through the center of the antechamber, right hand casually at her side. It reminded him of their first meeting – what seemed so long ago but was in reality only a week past – her gaze direct, looking strongly at ease. She strode straight up to the low rough-shod table placed in the center of the room and stood, eyeing each member in turn, commanding all of their collective attention.

To Itachi’s left, Kisame grinned and leaned into the back of his chair, hands at the back of his head. He watched her carefully place four scrolls one by one on the tabletop, dissecting her movements with wide eyes and bared teeth. There was no recognition in her eyes when her curious gaze fell upon him – how annoying, he thought. Back with that tasteless prudence.

Rasu walked around to stand to the left of the table and bowed, as she had to them at their first meeting, only this time with the even more formal gesture of straightening halfway in a respectful pause, during which she said "Pein," and then, "Konan," before standing up fully. She omitted honorifics because she wasn't _addressing_ the pair, merely establishing for the group that she knew their names. Most probably _all_ of their names.

Their leader nodded towards her. "I am told that you are here on behalf of Takigakure. The Akatsuki will listen to you."

"Thank you Pein-san, Konan-san. Let us begin without delay." Briefly she cast her eyes down, drawing a reflective breath before launching into her role. "My purpose here is to facilitate an alliance between Akatsuki and Takigakure," she intoned. "Konoha and the other so-named 'Great Nations' have abused their power over us lesser countries for too long. That is the bottom line. The driving force behind our dissent," she declared.

The cavern was silent. Itachi watched her for any small fidgeting or excessive blinks that would give away her nervousness, but apparently she was at ease. It reminded him of her when she'd first accosted them in the forest: outwardly calm and even more composed than she'd been then. A formidable feat to display in front of eight of the most ruthless criminals of the modern age. A lesser shinobi would sweat and dart his eyes around, but she was apparently expertly trained in keeping composure under intense scrutiny.

"First I will give you an overview of Takigakure's vision," she informed them, "and then I will explain Akatsuki's role." Her low voice echoed around the cavern. "Put simply, Takigakure will overthrow Konoha. We will force a new world order in the expansion of the Kage system." She sounded very sure of the outcome. Itachi slid his eyes over to their leader, but Pein looked impassive as ever.

"Our goal is to ensure that each and every hidden village has a stake in shinobi government whose authority is recognized by all other villages. In every major shinobi war, the countries with the highest percent casualties to population and the highest destruction to infrastructure were the smaller territories, abused for their lands, resources, and manpower. This is a fact. Takigakure's goal is to level the playing field. The Great Nations must be taught that no matter how much they trample on the smaller territories, we will always have the means and the ability to topple the most powerful nation."

" _Konoha_ needs a reminder of this. Their influence extends beyond the limits of their borders. Takigakure will destroy their top-heavy leadership of the shinobi world. We recognize that _every_ hidden village deserves a leader with the title of Kage, not only the five largest villages," she asserted.

An interesting proposal, Itachi mused, and one with some history. During his time as ANBU captain he'd learned from Sandaime Sarutobi that in the formation of the Kage system it had come up as a point of discussion: whether to grant Kage status to the leaders of _all_ emerging hidden villages. Unknown secret meetings and forgotten deals led to a pact between Konoha, Iwa, Suna, Kiri, and Kumo's first leaders: that _they_ _alone_ would head the shinobi nations in this new age, securing their stability and power and thereby the safety of their villages from outside attack.

Any alliances formed in those years were forgotten by the time the world slid into the First Shinobi War, but the stability of the five 'Great Nations' remained. Those five grew into relative prosperity by reputation – at the expense of the smaller villages, some of which had existed around that time and were since dissolved.

"Konoha forgets that it is a _hidden_ village. It is _not_ the governing center of the Fire nation, as it would like to believe. _No_ hidden village takes part in the government of the country in which it resides. Each village is self-governing and under the principle that all villages are _equal_ , a village's 'operating area' should not be defined automatically by the boundaries of its including nation. Put more simply, Konoha operates freely and exercises control over most of Fire country, and most contracts within the national boundaries are awarded to Konoha simply because it is the only hidden village in Fire.

"There is no reason for this other than a misguided sense of loyalty. There is currently only one hidden village per country, but,” she shook her head, “there is no reason for this to be the case. The vastness and central location of Fire makes it a prime example.

"While there is no means to disperse missions equally - doing so would undermine the autonomy of the villages – we _can_ exercise a small degree of influence: naturalize the operating area of a hidden village. Define a certain kilometer radius around the village center to be the village's _active operating area_ ; the area in which it would be reasonable to expect local shinobi to exercise direct control. Outside of this active area might – depending on the proximity of surrounding villages – be considered _neutral_ _zone_ : not under the control of any one hidden village."

Itachi frowned. _That_ was unexpected. Give other hidden villages access to parts of Fire country with no consequences? Almost all of the smallest hidden villages would benefit, and all of the largest would be cut back. It sounded nice in theory, but equality was unattainable in practice.

"Our attack plan is simple: attack and overthrow Konoha, taking its Hokage and council prisoner and holding the village proper in limbo. At a designated location, we will convene the largest Kage Summit, first of its kind, where new Kage will be introduced, documents will be signed, and recognition awarded."

"We need _other hidden villages_ to agree to meet at our Kage Summit. We need _Akatsuki_ to ensure the capture of Konohagakure directly." Her eyes rested on Pein. "We know that you also aim to overthrow them, and to this end Takigakure will form an alliance with your organization."

Rasu bowed again, concluding, "I am here as my country's representative and for you to instruct me as you see fit, to our mutual benefit." She nodded, stepping back in line with the low table of scrolls.

For a minute no one spoke, and as the last of the echoes died all shinobi present digested what they had just heard: treason, rebellion, revolution – but it sounded… comfortable. Reasonable, even, in theory.

Throughout her talk, Rasu was resistant to the missing-nin in front of her, passing her eyes over each of them to command their attention without really studying them, so now she refocused her attention. She glanced at the Uchiha, looking for something, but he was as impassive as the whole lot. Even Kisame was leaning forward on his elbows, not even smirking.

Konan spoke first. "What does Akatsuki gain from the arrangement?" Her voice was calm, but sharp – alert.

"First, a longstanding ally among the hidden villages," Rasu answered easily. _That_ was truly nothing to be taken lightly, which the organization of criminals must know. Akatsuki had undertaken many a contract with a hidden village or two, but only under one-time, under-the-table pretense. Takigakure proposed an _indefinite_ truce.

"Also," Rasu amended. "Forgive me, but I was under the impression that Akatsuki was the underground face of Amegakure – we were prepared to offer recognition – the chance to rule legitimately. But if that is not the case…" she trailed off.

"Your village is correct," Pein murmured from his seat at the center. "Ame is under our protection."

"Ah," Rasu understood. "So this _is_ a secondary structure." She wondered why they were all gathered beneath Iwa, and not in Ame. "In that case," her voice carried, "we do offer you the opportunity to come out of the shadows – to rule your hidden village from the light, with recognition from the other villages."

Pein sat back in his chair, bringing a hand up to his face. Konan was still a statue beside him. "What is the proposed timeline?" Pein asked. "How soon do you expect your proposed rebellion to occur?"

"That is not decided,” she admitted. “If you permit me to escort an ambassador to my village, we can discuss it with our council." She paused. "But given that you and I are conversing now, in October, by the end of this year we will have a better idea of who will support our cause. We will want to act quickly once the ball starts rolling, however, so by my estimate our window of time is likely February of the 70th year at the earliest, and the end of the 70th year at the latest.”

“Without more support, a takeover of Konoha would mean nothing right now.” She took a half-step in their direction, gesturing. “But like I said, we would talk over the most probable timeline with my country’s leaders directly. This first visit is to assess _your_ needs to see if this alliance is even a possibility for your organization.”

"It is a possibility," Pein began. Rasu was getting the impression that the orange-haired man disliked speaking and was only doing so because he had to. "Akatsuki and Takigakure will come to a mutually beneficial relationship, I have no doubt," he continued. "Now, however, I'd like to know about _you_ ," he tapped his finger on – presumably – a piece of paper in front of him. "Motosu Sagami."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a lot to take in. This is the second of three chapters that took a lot to get them to this state. So much dialogue, theory, etc, and oh my god the actual, overarching plot is so heavy. So much fabrication on my end it might as well be an original work of fiction… just kidding. This is fanfiction, don't worry. Canon-compliant until it isn’t!
> 
> *Oshiro Tenzen, Kakuzu's former partner. Name unimportant, included for consistency. There was a missing-nin Tenzen from Kumogakure in the Sakura novel apparently; name taken from there.


	7. some questions are better left unasked

October 10th, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 04:30pm, Akatsuki Hideout, somewhere beneath the Akaishi mountain range.

"Now, however, I'd like to know about _you_ , Motosu Sagami."

Kisame grinned at the stricken look on their guest’s face. He was certain that “Rasu” had not suspected research on her background. After all, it was only a short week since she appeared in front of _himself_. Kisame didn’t care about her name, but he _loved_ when his leader got the jump on someone. It was obvious she was surprised, and that pleased him.

A bead of perspiration formed on her hairline, and the muscles in her jaw went slack. Motosu, her family name, was not supposed to be associated with her shinobi status. Takigakure pressed her for information about her background only long enough to learn it was civilian – shinobi villages tended to be interested only in _shinobi_ bloodlines. _Sagami Rasu_ was the name listed on her official file. Sagami was her given name. Rasu was a nickname she’d permanently appropriated. By touting her _family_ name on top of all that, Akatsuki was taunting her.

"Jounin," Pein read further, "but no prior ranking history." He was trying to intimidate her in as few words as possible.

"Yes," she confirmed, dazed. "I’m a jounin." What of it? The idea that Akatsuki – _Akatsuki_ – had knowledge of her upbringing, her birthplace, her tiny rural village, her _family’s location_ … threw her.

"Hoshigaki-san informed me about your fight with Konoha ANBU…" Rasu refocused on her face to the right of Pein's. Konan’s manner of speaking was more formal than her counterpart's. "Tell me _why_ you were selected for this mission.”

So that was what they wondered. They already knew her combat was up to par with Konoha. That was important to them, since Akatsuki's prowess was infamy.

“My name is Motosu Sagami, but I usually go by Rasu.” That felt weird to say.

She considered her words carefully. “In ninjutsu, taijutsu, and stamina, I rank in the top quarter of Taki’s ninja. I have served for eleven years. Six of those years as an envoy to other lands. I am well versed in the history of the shinobi world. These traits put me on the short list.”

She did not lie; without knowing the extent of their intel, it was wise to tell the simple truth. It was very dull to speak so glumly about her own qualifications. But this wasn’t a job interview; just facts.

“I am outranked by many who possess similar traits,” she admitted. “But there is one trait that I possess which others do not: that trait is loyalty.” Takigakure was not foolish – sending a lone liaison to an organization of _missing-nin_ carried an inherent risk… a risk of said liaison _becoming_ a missing-nin.

“My village has decided two things about me that made the decision to send me very easy: first, I am not powerful enough for Akatsuki to want to recruit me.”

Kisame reacted with a snort of muffled laughter, which Konan ignored. She tilted her head ever so slightly.

“And second, even if I were powerful enough, I am too loyal to Takigakure to defect in that way.” She shrugged, “others may not be so trustworthy.” Rasu learned when to speak cryptically and when to speak clearly. This was a time for clarity. Anything less would get her killed.

Konan nodded, seemingly satisfied, then looked to Pein. Their eyes met and some message passed between Pein and Konan, like the flash of understanding between the Hoshigaki and the Uchiha from earlier. When Pein turned back to look at Rasu, there was a mysterious force behind his eyes, like the swirling winds of a particularly fierce storm.

Rasu dearly hoped that she has passed this test – another test taken blind. _The long game_ , she reminded herself.

* * *

Later that evening, Rasu wandered the dim hallway lazily, replaying the day’s events in her mind. Pacing helped her prepare responses and file memories. She looped around the full circle of the base several times, passing doorway after doorway. She saw no one. Knowing that there were eight of the world’s most dangerous missing-nin somewhere inside this structure made it’s emptiness creepier. She kept her chakra from questing behind doors, preferring to keep to herself and try not to get weirded out.

Low light illuminated the edges of the walls. Everything was dark. She was just rounding the corner past what appeared earlier to be a living room when the Uchiha came into view, walking towards her around the bend. First person to see in the hours since her audience. Rasu was positive that this was not a coincidence; if he didn’t want to be seen, he would not be.

The sight of him without his Akatsuki cloak quieted her, and she slowed down to study him. There was his face, seen in its entirety for the first time – not half-obscured by the high collar of his Akatsuki coat, or misshapen by the dying light of a campfire. There were his eyes, the same eyes she'd already met a hundred times, atop a face that was by all accounts supposed to be tinged with demonic fury. Instead it was just… a face. She stared, unabashedly taking in soft features and a feathery grace she hadn't in a million years expected from the Uchiha.

Rasu was twenty, and at that moment she was made aware of Uchiha Itachi – as a person. Beyond the threatening aura, the confined air of the tunnel gave his voice a velvety depth. They hadn't spoken since she entered this tunnel system. "Motosu," he stopped her.

She hadn't forgotten the earlier intense radiation from him that was _not quite_ killing intent, and encountering him alone made her nervous. Even now, his aura was clouded with darkness in her mind's eye. "Yes, Uchiha-san?"

"There is no need to wear our cloaks within this space," he informed her. She nodded, keeping her eyes firmly fixed, catching every twitch of his deadly eyes. "Having them at our meeting was a formality." And a scare tactic, she thought, meant to make their imposing organization seem all the more cohesive.

She nodded again, not quite trusting her voice to be steady with their solitude and his dark presence. The realization that she'd made the automatic classification of 'attractive' – and about her age – pushed to the front of her awareness, sparking a bit of anger in her.

He cocked his head, perusing her face and taking in her reaction to being alone with him. "You are not afraid to look me in the eye. Why?"

She furrowed her brow. Surely he knew that she was very, _very_ afraid? That fear had _nothing_ to do with the choice to meet his sharingan? She mustered her courage to answer. "But I am… afraid, that is. I don’t do it because I’m not afraid,” she explained. “I do it because sharingan or not, you’re a better fighter. I’ll never reach your level. So avoiding your genjutsu will not make a difference in whether I live or die," she pointed out. "But it _will_ make a difference in how seriously you take me. A bashful kunoichi is beneath your notice, but one who looks into your doujutsu unflinchingly..." As if to prove it, Rasu flicked her eyes from red to red, willing her racing brain to still.

Itachi's stone gaze looked down his nose at the shinobi in front of him. Somehow he couldn't picture her 'bashful'. "A wise observation." He spoke without appearing to move a muscle.

Not knowing what to say and being entirely confused about the exchange, Rasu fell into silence. She was about to start walking when he inexplicably spoke again, changing the subject. "You hate me."

She struggled with her words, at a loss. She couldn't fathom the motive behind his inquisition. But of _course_ she hated him; she hated _all_ missing-nin. People who _abandoned_ the village that gave them _life_ and _purpose_ were a low form of scum. She had accepted the current mission with mixed thoughts: on one hand, she sneered the idea of making deals with criminals; on the other, the value of their influence over the shinobi world and their ability to strike fear in their enemies was better served _for_ Takigakure than against it. And when her mission proved successful, it would boost her standing as a shinobi and add a tick or two to her list of abilities.

At the end of the day, though, Rasu was not here as herself; she was here as an extension of Takigakure. She represented their interests and in some cases made decisions on their behalf. She was expected to handle delicate situations… delicately. And by that she meant that under no circumstances was she to goad, anger, threaten, or otherwise antagonize _any_ of the group's members. Sometimes that might mean keeping her personal opinions… personal.

"You're mistaken, Uchiha-san, and I'm sorry if I've given you that impression," she replied evenly, straightening her back a little and making her expression blank. "I do not _hate_ you." But by inviting this conversation with her, Itachi had created another question in her mind. Rasu loved questions. Questions meant secrets. Secrets were interesting.

He cocked his head, inviting her to continue and she read in that gesture the question of what _does_ she think of him. Because her presence here opened many doors and it certainly took a special kind of shinobi to walk among them. A loyal shinobi among missing-nin - what were her thoughts?

"I'll not deny that I have little respect for missing-nin," she conceded. "Nor will I deny that I have wondered what goes through your head. But my purpose here has no patience for hate. I _distrust_ you. I find you _uncomfortable_. I am _afraid_ of you. But I do not _hate_ you."

Her eyes darkened, thinking. "I've read your file – your _real_ file, the one in the Konoha library of records," she supplied.

"Hm," he declined to comment, not asking her to _which_ of his many files she was referring.

"By age fifteen*, you'd already committed _all_ of the acts for which you are internationally known." She shook her head, something twisted in her gut, making her wonder if she should just keep her mouth shut, but the curious part of her was insatiable. She parted her lips, then stopped them before sound could escape again. His eyes dropped to her mouth, seeing her indecision. An eyebrow twitched.

"I opened the door, Motosu-san. Continue." Again her family name, this time with a twist of a joke in his voice. She was touched with the desire to slap that smirk off of his face.

"I read your file," she repeated carefully. "When you were fifteen, you murdered your… clan…in pursuit of power – it was a _test_ of how far you'd come at the time. You told that to your brother, who you… tortured that night." She molded her phrasing carefully to avoid sounding accusatory.

Itachi regarded her carefully. _No one_ talked to him candidly about his past. Not even Kisame. She was not as impassive as she would have him think, and she _did_ hate him in her way, but if she was going to walk down the road of speaking so candidly and while knowing so much about him, then it was worth . Her presence at Akatsuki was surely an interesting experiment in interaction with outsiders. "Hm," he said again, neither confirming nor denying.

"But if I am being frank with you, which I-I believe that I am," she was speeding up her words, and forced them to slow down. "It doesn’t make sense to me," she enunciated slowly. "If you _were_ interested in pursuing ultimate power, the slaying of your family and abandonment of Konoha should have been the _beginning_ , not the _pinnacle_.”

Thoughts flew out of her head and onto her tongue with abandon, voicing things she had tinkered with many times and could not find an answer to. “Yet here you are, _five years_ _later_ , to all accounts doing very little other than following orders… Certainly not pushing yourself in the same way. If you _were_ in pursuit of absolute power, shouldn't you be _leading_ Akatsuki?"

He moved so fast she only blinked and his hand was on her, throwing her backwards with such force that her heels scraped the floor. They would have crashed into the wall of the tunnel had Itachi not performed some invisible space-time jutsu, sending her _through_ it – literally.

The abrupt distortion made her insides turn over, and Rasu would have crumpled to the floor if Itachi hadn't kept moving forward, propelling them both through the room that existed behind the wall. This time when they came to the far wall she crashed into it, his forearm keeping her from rebounding forward.

Rasu stared at him through dizziness and nausea, shocked into non-action. While she wasn't _surprised_ by his sudden assault, she was afraid of what he might do, and through her stare she might have seen the same conclusion in his eyes.

"You know who I am, and yet you provoke me." His red eyes bore into her blue ones. "But if you think that _I_ am the one to be afraid of, then you do not know Pein," he whispered, his voice a low hiss. "Nod if you understand."

Blue eyes widened a smidge. Understand… was he _warning_ her? Itachi must have seen the confusion in her expression. "I am a subordinate of this organization, _like you_." He spoke more plainly, still in a whisper. "It would _not_ be wise to give him the impression that you question his authority by asking why _I_ do not lead." There was a frightening intensity in his tenor voice. " _Nod_ if you understand."

She opened her mouth to say that Pein's leadership wasn't under question, it was _your_ motives only, but closed it after considering that one thought might reasonably follow from the other, so the semantic difference didn't matter. She nodded.

He removed his arm and Rasu braced herself against the wall. Her breath quickened through her nose, bright eyes trained on his movements. His expression was blank as ever but he still stared at her with elevated intensity. Even in near darkness his eyes were bright enough for her to study the details of his black tomoe.

As the moment stretched out, Rasu felt that the Uchiha was regarding her as if measuring something, and she stayed still as a mouse under his gaze. He wore no weapons, not that it made him any less dangerous.

In the almost darkness his eyes glowed crimson, a bright and tainted neon of pure color. Rasu stared into them, sinking into the depths of his irises. She felt her fear rising as clearly as a trickle of icy water down her spine and promptly squashed it with a burst of frustration and a clench of her jaw. What right did he have to frighten her with his existence? What gave him the right to wave her _father's_ name in her face? The taste of her fear made her _want_ him to measure her. To show him that she may be afraid of him, but her fear was unwanted and it did not hold any power over her. How many times in the last week had she stared the sharingan in the eye? 50? 100? And he'd used them on her _twice_ and she still looked.

All too soon or not soon enough (she would swear she wasn't sure which), the corner of his mouth twitched and he turned to leave. Rasu stayed motionless, daring not even to breathe. Seemingly as an afterthought, he turned around in the doorway. Rasu watched his lips move in profile. "My father would have liked you," he said quietly before disappearing.

She stayed upright for a while, trembling like a kitten against the wall.

Thoughts whirling, she sank down along the wall to rest on the floor. _My father would have liked you_. The sentence was so unfathomable she thought maybe she'd misheard him.

Belatedly she realized the room he'd shoved her into was _hers_.

She shivered. The Uchiha gave her a bitter taste of the Akatsuki underbelly and much to think about in the fewest words possible. There were things hidden about Pein that the Uchiha alluded to – things she wanted absolutely no knowledge of. Akatsuki… a hidden organization of criminals.

_Do your job and get out_ , part of her whispered. Don't stick your neck out, don't get involved in whatever may or may not be happening internally. _What if, when this was all over and done, Takigakure ordered her to Rain as a permanent liaison?_ She shivered at the thought. No, they wouldn't do that to her.

Against her wishes, she thought back to the Uchiha's last line. _My father would have liked you_. What did that _mean,_ and what had compelled him to vocalize it? His father… his _father_.

Uchiha Fugaku, patriarch of the Uchiha clan. Rasu all but buried her face in her hands. Uchiha Fugaku might have liked her… was that so? She couldn't say why, but the thought was satisfying to her. Yet the Uchiha…had, well, _murdered_ his father, so there was _that_ , she thought wryly.

Meddling in Akatsuki affairs brought only trouble, she decided. Despite knowing their biographies on an individual level, she should do well in the future to think of them as a unit. At any rate, her village would attack Konoha soon, and she would be rid of them entirely. It could not come fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I messed with some character ages. Itachi committed the massacre at fifteen in this story, instead of thirteen.


	8. two truths and a lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One part of this chapter was giving me trouble for a long time, so I scrapped and re-wrote. Might go back and edit later.

October 11, 69th year since the Founding, approximately 08:00am, Akatsuki Hideout, somewhere beneath the Akaishi mountain range.

When Rasu woke, it was just as dark as when she'd fallen asleep, since there was no natural light beneath the mountain range. Her internal clock was probably correct, so it should be early morning. She supposed it didn't matter. Her mission was progressing; all she had to do now was make herself available when Pein called for her.

She rose quietly, flexing the sleep out of her joints. Her arms curled around her body protectively. She thought more about the sparse emptiness of the Akatsuki base. It was so… unimposing. Unremarkable. Small, even. The feeling of stale air returned to her, with the desire to have a drink of clean water.

Water would calm her, bring her back to herself. It was a human's lifeblood as well as the lifeblood of her village, country, and the earth itself. Takigakure practically worshipped the waterfalls, and all ninja from there were bound to be proficient in techniques stemming from the acquiring, molding, and manipulating of water. Rasu was no different – most of her jutsu were water-based.

She made her way through the hall, glancing around as she passed doorways. When she stepped into the kitchen area in search of a glass and faucet, there was already a figure there, standing with his back to her. She couldn’t even feel him. She took a step back, not wanting to face this particular person in a closed space, and individually at that. _Well_ aware of her newly decided resolve not to involve herself in _anything_ Akatsuki, she turned to leave.

He suddenly slammed the refrigerator door, jarring all of its contents and making her jump. "Do you have a _problem_ with me, Motosu?" He rounded on her, approaching with closed fists.

"Of course not, Kakuzu-san.” She braced for a fight; the Kakuzu of her folk tales was mean, manipulative, and tempered dangerously, and absolutely _nothing_ had provoked him to snap at her just now. His profile fit so much _better_ to the demon tirade than the Uchiha's politeness. She remembered how calm and silent Kakuzu was in the chamber; _this_ was something else. _Pein must keep his dogs on short leashes_ , Rasu kept the thought to herself.

"Then why are you leaving? You sure you have no conflict of interest working with _my_ goals that would offend your sensibilities?" the man continued, taking another step. She shook her head, fixing her eyes on the refrigerator cord’s entering a plug in the wall and busying her mind with thoughts of how they’d managed to wire electricity down here. Takigakure knew Kakuzu was alive and operating in Akatsuki. Her mission had nothing to do with the traitor. "Good."

Her mouth twitched. As if she wanted anything but to be far, far away from him.

"Something funny?" His voice was deep and confident. He baited her, but where the Hoshigaki's baiting was lighthearted, his was malicious.

"I have nothing to say to you, Kakuzu-san," her hands flinched into fists, which made him laugh at her.

"I’m not going to hurt you," he asserted.

Somehow she did not believe him.

"I have some things to say to you, though. So _I'll_ talk, and _you'll_ listen. Sit," he commanded.

She didn’t even question it. Who could say how he would react if she tried to leave? Her fists clenched in her lap. “Hello, Kakuzu-san,” she forced out. Paused.

“Hm,” he crossed his arms. “Hello, Motosu Sagami of the hidden waterfall.”

They stared at each other across the table. Beneath the Akaishi mountains, among the Akatsuki. Her heart hammered away in her chest. He wore a grey cloth covering over his nose and mouth, like a sick parody of a demure veil.

He smirked. He liked to smirk. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ve had the opportunity to talk to one of my own.”

She took a page out of the Uchiha’s book and said nothing.

“I doubt that Takigakure has changed much – did you know that I helped build the temple? Yes, I diverted the river and led the torrent to rush over the Fall of Kings.”

She just stared. Was this actually happening?

A shape slinked into the doorway. Red mop of hair – Sasori of the Red Sand of Suna, wearing a sullen expression.

She shifted in her seat a little. “Is there… something you need, Sasori-san?”

“Merely observing.”

“Oh.”

“I was at the Summit declaring the Hidden Village of Takigakure an independent shinobi village.” Kakuzu dragged her attention back.

She resisted the urge to tell him she _knew_ , she _read his file_.

He steepled his hands together in front of his nose. “We both know what you are doing for our village, Motosu-san.”

Sasori was still watching her, his face as blank and uncaring as a doll. “ _Our_ village, Kakuzu-san? Do I need to express to Pein your continuing loyalty to Taki?”

He ignored Sasori. “My village was in the land that is now Marimo Lake. I followed orders. Now you too are merely following orders.”

She opened her mouth to defend herself – she wasn’t just the village’s mouthpiece; she had decision-making power.

“You are like me – loyal, sent beyond the borders to do… well, some of the dirty work that keeps piling up on our beloved country’s doorstep.” He stood up and walked around the table, advancing on her slowly. “Your mission, little Waterfall, will not be the first time that Taki has sent a shinobi after Konoha. They may have changed their tactics but the destruction of Konoha is not a _new_ goal.”

“Why are you lying to me?” He made her confused, and annoyed, but he didn’t actually strike fear in her heart in quite the same way as the Uchiha, and didn’t stick her tongue, either.

“Making accusations like that, against someone such as me, is dangerous.” Smirk.

He tried to look menacing, but after hearing him speak of his past, something changed. He didn’t seem so menacing to her. “I do not think that you would kill me.”

He smirked, leaning back in his chair. “That’s presumptuous.”

“Why tell me anything,” she asked. It wasn’t fair that Takigakure wanted her to just let him be. “You won’t have your name cleared.”

"I've lived a lifetime since then, but your mission and Takigakure's plans are not such a far cry from my past life. You're still young. I may be a missing-nin, but I'll take the chance to save one of my own from corruption."

Corruption? She thinned her lips. "You're not one of my own, Kakuzu-san," she said. "And I take it it won’t be _you_ coming to Waterfall with me?" She can smirk, too.

He smirked back. "Wouldn't that be fun? Don't count on it. It's Itachi and Kisame, of course." He knew what of Pein's plans? Was that because he held _power_ in the organization, or had Pein announced his intentions to everyone but her?

He observed her for a few moments, eyes glinting as he watched her take in the information he gave out. He didn’t expect a response, apparently. "Come with me," he grunted through his veil. "We have business."

Pein must want her. _Finally_.

Only, when she followed Kakuzu into the same domed chamber from her audience, Pein wasn't there. The only one was Oshiro Tenzen, Kakuzu's partner. He lounged against the table, a smirk settled on his face. The smirking duo.

Kakuzu walked to the center of the chamber before turning and settling into a boar stance.

"What do they teach young meat nowadays, hm?" Kakuzu cracked his knuckles.

Rasu frowned. "Oh no, I don't think so." She crossed her arms to emphasize her dislike of the situation. Her nails bit into her palms and she felt dread.

"Keh," he huffed. "Such arrogance from a member of my home village." Kakuzu spoke of Taki as a fond, long-distant memory. It was a stark contrast to Kisame's bare contempt for Kiri. That was another thing she found strange about him, and made him seem less menacing. It was only an act, she thought. Getting her guard down.

"I will not fight you, Kakuzu-san," she said, moving her hands to her sides.

"Well then," Oshiro Tenzen shrugged, stepping forward. "You leave us little choice."

“Please, shinobi. What are you doing? You can have no reason to fight me. I—we—”

“What are _we_ doing? We’re seeing what the wretched dog of Waterfall can do from the end her leash.”

She felt his killing intent reach down to her from the cavernous roof and _dodged_. She tucked in and rolled to the side and not a moment too soon. Lifting her head from a crouch showed her a bolt of lightning smoking the place she just stood, scorching the packed earth. They _wouldn't_ harm her outright. _Would_ they? She _believed_ that when dealing with the Hoshigaki and the Uchiha, or her mission would have gone nowhere. With _these two,_ it was a different situation entirely. She felt his killing intent.

"You make me sick, Taki," Tenzen taunted as she dodged another bolt.

No good, she thought – her choice was to fight or flee. And she would _not_ flee from Takigakure's most wanted. But what could she _do_? They would surely _kill_ her. She was no match for _Kakuzu_! And Tenzen’s chakra was lightning-balanced while hers was water – but water _conducts_ electricity, so her element would be weak. Maybe she could use the conductive element to her advantage…

Next time a deadly bolt fired down, her hand was already arching up, trailing a gasping stream of water. Time slowed and her water hovered in mid-air, a puddle sliding down the outside of an invisible sphere, her hand and body on the inside. The cavern flashed yellow, then blue as the lightning shot through her water to be grounded _beside_ her instead of _through_ her. She danced under his lightning twice more before splitting into shadow clones. There was _nowhere_ in the vast space for her to hide, so she hid among her clones. Then, she launched forward, kunai in hand.

Thinking her first move would be to send a clone to attack him directly, Tenzen ran to the one hanging back, assuming it was the real Rasu. That was part of her plan, though. His lightning struck down and her rear clone burst, its water clinging to his skin as if magnetically and drawing his own lightning bolt straight to him.

At the same time, Rasu felt the Uchiha’s presence come into the cavern as a shadow, and she turned in time to see him and the Hoshigaki materialize. Not him, she thought helplessly. Anyone but him.

Tenzen took advantage of her momentary lack of attention, throwing a bolt that Rasu barely had time to deflect. Then it was the same dance and deflection around the room. Disappointingly, the nin was near-impervious to his own electricity even in a direct strike.

One false step and she stumbled, throwing out a hand to catch herself and drawing a triumphant sneer from Tenzen. Electricity shot into her hand, making it spasm. She gasped and caught her wrist with her opposite hand, gripping the pained limb that twitched and fell numb as the lightning master's chakra dispersed. Another bolt raced for her midsection and she dodged, throwing herself to one side and hitting the ground hard on her shoulder. She was going to _die_ , she panicked.

She cursed as she threw chakra into her down shoulder, propelling herself back upright with a huff and a yawning indentation in the stone ground. The fight was getting out of hand; she could _theoretically_ dodge longer than he could throw bolts, but her accuracy would continue to decrease and mistakes were likely. She was also _still_ at a disadvantage with her Water against his Lightning. At least Kakuzu chose to _watch_ instead of fight.

With that in mind, Rasu split back into clones and rushed in vertical formation. This time when his bolts rained down, her clones did the work for her, deflecting their deadly strikes and bursting on impact so she could continue her forward assault. The former Kumo nin was a long-range fighter, so her new strategy was to keep him within arm's length. Her numbed arm flexed and renewed energy coursed through her. It still tingled, but was usable.

Three steps from him she lunged, swinging out an elbow, and he dodged to her right. His palm struck out, trying to hit her bruised forward shoulder, but she countered with a strike of her own, across her chest and grounded. Electricity burned into her skin as she made contact – was his skin _seeping_ lighting? I didn’t hurt too badly, though, so she gripped his wrist, fighting through stars coursing through her nerves and disrupting her vision, and leveraged him forwards into her waiting backhand.

"Che," he huffed, stabilizing himself and charging up for his next move. "Is that all you can do with water? Pathetic next to my lightning," he taunted.

Rasu was on him again, narrowing her eyes. Water burst from her remaining clones, swirling above their heads. His leg kicked upwards and she rolled into it, swerving away and making a kick of her own, which he blocked with another charged fist. He was skilled with his elemental jutsu, but lightning was notorious for leaking chakra in all directions once converted. Rasu did a little converting of her own, adding water to the array of moisture around them, upping the humidity to near 85%. Opponents typically didn't like being wet. It made them cold and slow. Hopefully it would further confuse the electricity, adding to the diffusion and draining his chakra rapidly if he was actually . He must have sensed this because he ceased the flow of electricity through his skin. Instead he made to jab at her face and strike out with his knee in the same motion.

She flipped back out of range and closed her eyes to focus her next jutsu. _Rain_ , she commanded. The water above hovered a moment longer before pelting down across the room. Droplets elongated with the speed of their descent. She was no ice master, but through sheer speed, water could be just as deadly, pelting her opponent with thousands of fractional steely blue needles. It was, as Kakuzu might know, a standard in Takigakure for shinobi of jounin and higher. Tenzen could block some with lightning armor, but it would still hurt him.

Even as her rain pelted down, Tenzen’s killing intent lashed out from above. The force of the impending lightning attack was staggering; Rasu very nearly lost her footing. Her jutsu wavered. Lightning was coming down. It was going to reach her, hit her, shock her heart and kill her. There was nowhere to dodge, and no time to collect a deflecting stream of water. She would surely die in this cavern. Her jutsu gone, the water turned to harmless droplets.

There was a thunderclap above ringing out like a command, making her _actually_ stagger and lose her footing. She only heard the thwump of her own body hitting the dirt, then silence. No one else attacked her, so she let her water sink back into the earth and opened her eyes. Tenzen’s body was covered in sparse pinpoints where her rain had met skin before he overpowered her attack. He grimaced in an ugly closed-mouthed stare, and it took a moment for Rasu to realize what had happened. With growing horror, she watched Tenzen choke out blood.

It was Kakuzu who spoke and who was now leaning against one wall, arms folded and looking at her down his nose. Inky black tendrils of _something_ trailed from his forearms to Tenzen’s chest.

The Hoshigaki called out something with the words "shit" and "Kakuzu," shaking his head, but Rasu couldn't make it all out for the echoing in her ears. “Taki!” she heard. She stared abjectly at the space that was Tenzen's chest and stumbled backwards.

“You’d better clean up this fucking mess and explain why you killed _another partner_ ,” the Hoshigaki spat, jabbing a finger into the air. Rasu scrambled to her feet to catch the Hoshigaki and his partner. Distantly she saw the edge of the Uchiha's cloak, already walking out.


	9. knowledge is power

October 11th, 69th year since the Founding, 01:00pm, somewhere beneath the Akaishi mountain range.

“Thank you for sending Uchiha-san and Hoshigaki-san to Takigakure with me,” Rasu affirmed to Konan, bowing. She didn’t appreciate it, but had resigned herself to the unwelcome company. She survived the beginning of October with the pair; she could live it out at least to the end of the month.

“Then we are in agreement,” Konan nodded slowly. Her blue eyelids looked heavy, as if the weight of the world rested upon the backs of her eyes. If Pein truly _was_ the functional god of Amegakure, then it stood to reason that his right hand bore a disproportionate ton of the responsibility as well.

Pein himself was absent from her send-off. She remembered his rippling eyes and the Uchiha’s cryptic warning.

The Hoshigaki and the Uchiha had led her stunned figure by the shoulder to a new area of their base and into a small room Rasu suspected was attached to the blue-haired woman’s personal suite. Unlike the bare rock and stiff necessities littering the common area of the hideout, _this_ section looked legitimately well-thought-out in the placement of its ample furniture and papered walls. There was a desk flanked by two sturdy bookcases, in front of which Rasu stood, as well as a coffee table, armchair, and even a couch.

There were bits of stiff paper fluttered around the edges of the floor by the walls – the only evidence that someone needed to clean up. It looked like she spent a lot of time here. Rasu wanted to ask if Konan was comfortable spending her days in a cave in the middle of a mountain – Rasu would shudder at the thought of it. The woman herself sat upon the surface of the desk, legs folded at the ankles, pale hands folded in her lap.

As a small token of good faith, Rasu had sacrificed her possession of two scrolls (after copying them, of course) detailing Konoha’s involvement in the collapse of Amegakure, both of which lay open on the desk beside her. One was a mission scroll relating to Konoha’s interest in the Second War as a whole. The other was an account of Amegakure’s imports and exports during and after the war, including Konoha’s ‘adoption’ intake of certain Ame-born refugee children, all of whom conspicuously possessed _interesting_ shinobi traits and even one blood limit.

Konan had expressed her thanks, and by Rasu’s estimation she meant it. Little was known about Konan besides that she was an orphan caught in the misery of the Second War and the devastation of Amegakure. She roamed with children of like temperament and _somehow_ , _someone_ had taught them ninjutsu. Her hair was blue, only a little darker than Rasu's own. She looked like steel and silk, and the air around her recalled the fine spidery threads of the most delicate paper.

Rasu bid farewell to the strong woman. “One of your own should contact you within the week, once they and Taki’s council speak terms.” To the fall of Konoha, she thought.

Itachi nodded, following his own script. “We are most interested in the timing of our attack, and that is what we will focus on coordinating with Takigakure.” Konoha would _not_ fall, he thought privately.

“Give me news of the meeting, and then weekly reports, Uchiha.” Konan’s hair swished out of her eyes. “You know what to do.”

He nodded to the right hand of Akatsuki’s god, and then turned to the Motosu. “Sagami-san?”

She refused to meet his eyes even as she felt them on her; _Konan_ was in charge here, not the Uchiha, and Rasu had nothing more to prove to him. Ignoring him shouldn’t matter, anyway, but after that inexplicable interaction they had in a darkened room under this very mountain, it _did_ matter. Now it wasn’t just Kisame sending her openly appraising looks. Next time she vowed to keep her thoughts to herself – the Uchiha was a family annihilator and a missing-nin; however curious his file made her, his motives deserved no space in her thoughts.

The only thing left to do here was to bid farewell and escort her criminal charges to Takigakure’s council.

Just like their first meeting, the Uchiha didn’t wait for her to pick up her pack before striding out into an unknown length of the tunnel. She was only grateful they escorted her to her room to gather up her belongings _at all_ before hustling her into Konan’s rooms. She bowed low one final time and followed red clouds into the darkness.

* * *

Three hours of silent travel later, they emerged from the tunnels, high up on the eastern side of the mountain range. The entrance they came out of was set back a ways around a bend in the rock. Now, stepping away, Rasu would never have known a tunnel existed up here if she wasn’t already looking at it. She briefly considered dropping a chakra tag at the location for future reference, but discarded the idea as unnecessarily conspicuous.

Opposite the mountain’s face and across a wide path was a long drop down the side of their crested hill. At their height – only moderately far up in the mountain range – they had an unobstructed view of her country.

It was nearing the golden hour, with the sun setting behind the mountains to their backs. Her eyes drank in the breathtaking view of the rocky valley over the edge. Waterfall country boasted an impressive tree variety, and the shades of green, orange, and autumn red were out in force. In the distance, a long river snaked its way from right to left, south to north. It flowed from some invisible crack in the mountain range to split and reform and cross the countryside all the way down to the shear northern cliffs where she knew it would plunge into the ocean as one of the region’s most famous waterfalls. It was a welcome sight.

Night would fall within the hour. Closing her eyes, she summoned her white owl Shiro and bid him give Taki’s council notice of her guest’s arrival.

Kakuzu’s words had come back to haunt her as she stared out over the countryside. She loathed that the sight of her country reminded her of him.

Back in the cavern, even as Tenzen’s body toppled forward, oozing blood, Kakuzu had strode over to her like a man walking to temple on Saturday morning. There was no killing intent from him, and it took Rasu only a moment to realize that he’d saved her life. Tenzen was going to _kill_ her, and instead Kakuzu had killed Tenzen. Rasu’s eyes tried to focus on Kakuzu’s green ones when he leaned in, gripped her forearm in one of his massive gloved hands, and whispered cryptically “Think about this, Motosu Sagami. I saved your life, and now you are going to wonder why.” She didn’t believe it had really happened.

Rasu sighed heavily. His words worried her. But one thing she knew for certain: her country was _beautiful_.

“So, Taki-san,” Kisame started a light conversation, making her turn away from the sacred landscape and towards the cursed missing-nin, “are you going to visit the _Motosus_ while we are in the city? Perhaps invite them to meet your guests?” He was teasing her despite the good-natured tone of his voice, but Rasu wouldn’t have it today. The vision of water rushing down her lands renewed her hope for a future that had seemed so bleak within the manufactured tunnels of Akatsuki’s base.

“I have no family in the city, Hoshigaki-san,” she pointed out. Except a sister who earnestly followed the path of an aggressive elder sibling, she didn’t mention. “As Pein must have told you, the Motosus come from the northwest, very near the border with Stone country.”

“Eh?” Kisame _acted_ like he’d never heard that bit of information. She would not have believed him if he said so. “So that means,” he pointed to the north, parallel to the cliff-face. “Your family is fairly close to _here_ , all things considered.”

Rasu narrowed her eyes, but followed his pointing finger along the treetops. They were a dark forest green against the even darker tree-lined mountainside. The sky in the distance was a lush pink and orange where the clouds met the sea behind the far end of the mountain range. Yeah, her family was there.

Now, her father would be cleaning the dinner dishes. Her mother would be outside in their garden, watering the plants that thrived in the night – there weren’t many to visit, as most green things didn’t like having their leaves wet in the dark, but some were ok with it or even thrived – the fungus, the ferns, and the earthy musk.

The Hoshigaki must have likewise traced her gaze, because he was looking carefully at her glazed eyes. “Are they dead?” He asked flatly, drawing a warning glance from his partner the Uchiha. Missing-nin did not discuss family. As a rule, there were _presumed_ dead unless they could be otherwise exploited – and they _were_ usually dead. A good many _shinobi’s_ families were dead as well; it was a simple fact of life.

“Do not ask me about my family,” she warned. “I may have to work with you, but that doesn’t make it any different from before.”

“Ouch, so hostile. I’m just being polite.”

Rasu exhaled. In the past eleven years, she hardly thought about her roots, despite the fondness with which she recalled her upbringing. She never brought them up unless asked. Takigakure learned they were civilian and that was that. And having hard backgrounds themselves, most of the shinobi she associated with did _not_ ask. She lapsed into silence, absorbed in her thoughts.

Family life had been simple in their garden. Her family took plants into the little town nearby to sell the pretty flowers, the life-saving herbs, and the life- _taking_ herbs (the last sparingly and mostly to shinobi). Her life now was _far_ from simple, but that had been _her_ _choice_. Sometimes, though, she did miss the natural beauty of Waterfall’s countryside, what with the frequent traveling outside the borders.

“Ninjutsu talent in Takigakure usually springs up _in_ the city though, right? Aren’t most Taki shinobi born _in_ Taki?” Kisame actually did not sound like he was trying to bait her this time, which somehow made the consistent prying more irritating.

“Well, I wasn’t,” she snapped. “Is that all you need to know?”

Silence was awkward as the trio made their slow way down the path, until necessity made her interact again.

“Once we’re inside Waterfall’s territory I can pull us to within 100 paces of Takigakure’s gates.” She informed them naturally. Rasu looked at the Uchiha questioningly, unsure if he would accept to be teleported under someone else’s jutsu. The man liked to be in control of himself, so she didn’t know if he would willingly trust her, even though it would cut travel time by two-thirds.

She would use a chakra tag to focus her space-time teleportation jutsu across the tens of kilometers from here to Takigakure. Space-time jutsu of any kind was tricky – _very_ tricky. In principle, all jutsu were a form of space-time – to varying degrees. Substitution jutsu was the simplest form involving ones own body.

All shinobi from Takigakure were taught about chakra tags, as they had useful applications. The principle was basic – infuse a bit of the user’s chakra into a small object. That object became a _beacon_ of sorts for the user to sense from far away. It was an anchor for techniques like teleportation. Rasu recalled them being an exercise in chakra sensing for genin and chuunin, and a good way for a shinobi to become used to his or her own chakra signature as distinguished from many others.

She and many she knew left chakra tags in their apartments, outside Taki’s gates, or in other _safe_ places around the countryside just in case they stumbled into too much trouble and had to quickly disappear. If, of course, they were within the limits of their own ability to sense the tag. Some shinobi have a larder radius of use than others. Her radius was approximately within the borders of Waterfall country.

Looking into his red eyes, she thought of another issue she’d have to breach with them: the nature of their visit to Taki called for _discretion_ – she couldn’t very well let two international missing-nin into Takigakure for them to be _instantly_ recognized. Not everyone knew about the rebellion, and there were civilians to think about. “You both can maintain a henge, correct?” She looked between their incredulous expressions. “Yes, of course you can. You’ll need to maintain it while we’re out in the streets, or at any public event. Hoshigaki-san, you will have to stow your great-sword.”

“ _Samehada_ ,” he reminded her. “We get it, Taki-san. It’s annoying,” he complained, “but it’s fine.”

“And Uchiha-san,” she looked into his crimson pools, “no sharingan.” Henge could dispel eye color in theory, but she did not know if it could hide an activated doujutsu, so it was best to be safe. She braced herself for a dangerous protest, but he only looked back and said, “understood” in his smooth voice.

She schooled her expression and looked away, grateful for it and unaware that the Uchiha kept his eyes on her hitae-ate for a few long seconds.

* * *

October 11th, 69th year since the Founding, 07:30pm, Western Takigakure gate.

“Falling asleep at your post, Nara-kun?” Rasu called out the slacking guard. Nara scrambled to regain standing posture amid a muffled yelp. What a coincidence for the young genin to be the _last_ shinobi she saw in Konoha and the _first_ in Takigakure.

“Sagami-senpai!” Nara exclaimed. “You’re back!” When she caught sight of the tall, hooded pair flanking Rasu, Nara’s eyes widened.

Rasu held up a hand. “Visitors, Nara-kun. How is your training?”

It didn’t escape the genin’s notice that these ‘visitors’ were not introduced, but Nara knew better than to pry under their menacing figures. “It’s been fine,” she said warily. “Yomura-sensei made us sign up for six weeks of guard duty as punishment for failing the chuunin exams.” She smiled sheepishly. “In addition to round-the-clock performance drills.” Rasu winced internally. Geta Yomura was the stern sensei of the genin trio and her direct supervisor under the first leg of her mission. She knew first-hand how hard the hammer came down on failure.

“Say, Nara-kun, have you ever heard of Marimo Lake?”

The young shinobi shook her head. “Nah. There’s so many lakes it’d be impossible to know them all.” Her smile brightened. “I do know that our rivers fill over five hundred lakes in Waterfall, Fire, _and_ the land to the East!” She recited.

Rasu laughed. “Thanks anyway. I’ll be in the city for a few days. I’ll meet up with you if I can. We’re staying at Sama-Sama Hot Springs.”

“Oh mannnn,” the genin said, trying not to pout. “That’s so lucky.”

She smiled. “Don’t be jealous. Being back in the city is just another part of the mission. Someday you’ll have to contend with such a life, so enjoy your short shifts while you have them. Farewell.”

“Ah! Yes, senpai!”

“I’m proud of you for keeping your mouth shut, Hoshigaki-san,” she teased when they were out of earshot. Seeing the young genin had lifted her spirits enough to have a little joke with the Akatsuki.

“Mmph,” he grunted in response. He and his partner had changed themselves into very ordinary-looking mercenaries, one with brown hair, and the other dark blue, both without hitae-ate.

“Where is the location we will be staying? ‘Sama-Sama’…?” The Uchiha asked beneath his altered appearance.

“Yes,” she turned around to speak to him directly. “Sama-Sama Hot Springs is built into the opposite side of that peak there.” She pointed into the distance to a crest that rose sharply over the near tree line. “I will see you to our rooms, then I will have a brief preliminary meeting with my council. I will not be gone more than an hour.”

“You are not staying in your own home while in the city?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Takigakure is a village of unnatural sprawl. My home is several miles away, on the opposite side of the village center. I am needed here, to remain in your company for the duration of your stay.”

Kisame snorted. “To watch us, you mean.”

She turned to him, hands on her hips. “Yes, of course. You are not to travel anywhere in the city without my presence or the council’s explicit consent. It should be obvious that nobody who knows you’re here trusts you, which is partly why you’re housed so far from our elite.”

“We’re not to be trusted,” Kisame repeated, “so we’re banished to a luxury with hot springs?” He grinned. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”


	10. a change of plans

October 11, 69th year since the Founding, 09:00pm, Takigakure central administration, office of jounin Geta Yomura of the Second Council.

Sama-Sama was a resort nestled into distant hills of Takigakure’s woodland outer boundary. After depositing the pair, she followed Shiro’s direction to meet with Geta Yomura, the hard-lined sensei of Nara and her teammates. It was no coincidence that the man near the center of the insurrection against Konoha was also the team leader of one of only three Takigakure genin teams recommended for the recent chunin examinations. He was stern and harsh, but he was driven, and he made absolute sure his students suffered and benefited from that suffering.

“Sensei,” she bowed out of respect for the elder man. “Uchiha and Hoshigaki are in the city.”

“Efficient work, as always, Sagami.” That was about as much praise as the tall man had ever given, so she would take it.

“Thank you, sir - might I stay, and talk to you about our plan of attack on Konoha?” Geta surveyed the young woman standing at attention.

“Patience, Sagami,” he cautioned, turning around to glance out the window. “Stay the night. Come back in the morning and speak with us then.”

“This isn’t about Akatsuki, sensei,” she went on. He gave her credit for a mostly steady voice. He knew he had a propensity for giving the young ones anxiety, but Rasu always had something of a rebellious streak. Personally, he regretted not having the opportunity to scare it out of her. “I’d like to have a workable plan of action that isn’t entirely predicated on them.”

He tilted his chin down, brow furrowing in a typical display of displeasure. “Sagami,” he reprimanded. “I know what you think about our plan of attack. You fancy yourself a tactician, but your background is limited. Leave the decision making to the decision makers.”

“My old operation in Stone country should be closing this month – at what stage are the negotiations?” Geta knew that _she_ knew he didn’t know the stage of the negotiations. It simply wasn’t his style. She barged ahead after that unsubtle reminder that _she_ knew more about that forward tactical squad than he did. “We should start our preparations for the takeover. Not for immediate action, of course, even though Konoha must be unstable after that invasion by Sand. But _soon_ , sensei. Within the first six months of year 70; _before_ their new Hokage can make new deals with the Fire Daimyo and other villages.”

“You know that depends on the status of our alliance with the Akatsuki and other villages. We will wait.”

“Yes, attacking now is a _mistake_ without more guidance from the other villages, but we cannot wait _forever_ , either.”

“I will not have the same conversation with you again, Sagami. You’re too inexperienced for this.” She always wanted something from him. Her ambition was commendable – rather like himself, he was likely to compare – but authority was absolute.

“Uchiha Itachi was _13_ when he was promoted to ANBU Captain,” she reminded him.

“Yes, and we all know how that turned out for Konoha,” he retorted.

“Then when?” She asked tightly. “The third war was a _lifetime_ ago; Water is too unstable to be an ally. Grass is with us. Ame is with us. Iwa will be with us soon. Kumo is the last nation left. Sand _invaded_ Konoha last week, so I don’t see _them_ as friends, either.” She stepped forward and spread her hands out in front of her, articulating as she talked. “All the pieces are falling into place, sensei. It’s almost time.”

“Hm,” he almost smirked at her. “Sagami.” His hand went to rest on the table he stood next to, half leaning. “Your path to our ranks was unusual, and you know I was the first to voice concern about the waiver of your exams.” He looked sternly down his nose at her, a cruel hardness in his dark eyes. Yomura was not an ugly man, but neither was he handsome. “Your progress in ninjutsu and – more importantly – your development as an asset was…unexpected. Frankly, I did not expect you to turn into anything at all,” he told her. Sagami said nothing.

When she appeared as a child of nine at Takigakure’s proverbial doorstep, too old for traditional training, too young and inexperienced for genin ranks, the bar was quite low. But she had enough of a brain in her skull to listen to orders, and a propensity for learning. Wherever she came from, her ambition rivaled the drive of the old clans. After all this time, he was the first to admit that she exceeded expectations. He shook his head, frown deepening even as she stood stock still, emotionless.

Sagami had few real ties to Takigakure proper, which fortuitously translated into the ability to soak up shinobi lifestyle like a sponge. For seven years, she lived, breathed, and slept Takigakure loyalty. Her rootless existence lead to semi-permanent assignment on ambassadorial and foreign negotiation missions. Akatsuki was the latest in the long game of targeting Konoha via contract with other villages. Repeated conversations with her had brought out her desire for _more_ responsibility, _more_ influence, _more_ decision-making.

“Because you brought up Kumogakure,” he went on, spiraling into the subject, “I will tell you. Cloud country requires _immediate_ attention – a delicate hand. I’ve recommended you for the mission.” Her frowning silence was enough for him to continue. “It will be challenging,” he warned. “A four-man team is already there, and you would need to coordinate with them.”

“What about the Akatsuki?” she asked tightly.

“You will convince them to join your mission in Kumo.” He said it as if it was the _easiest_ task in the world. It surely was not; Akatsuki had its own missions as well, but if Sagami _truly_ wanted the freedom to make more tactical decisions, then she would have to step up and learn how to make them. She was a top class asset; if she wanted this, she would figure it out. Yomura praised himself at testing this bit of her usefulness.

“What do I need to know about Kumo, then?” She didn’t even miss a beat. A more jovial man than he would have crinkled an eye. She was hardly the product of his strict teaching, but he valued her work ethic nonetheless.

“You are aware of Kumogakure’s multiple powerful clans and its reputation for instability?” She nodded. “Yes, of course you are. In short – their consolidated, central power is _failing_ ; the clans are fighting. The Raikage’s leadership is devolving.”

Well, he supposed, it was as good a time as any to assign her officially. “Sagami,” he started dully, “I hereby assign you this mission.” She stood up a little straighter, held her chin a little higher. “You are a ninja of Takigakure, you are the weapon in my hand, and the surety of the waterfall will decide your fate.” It was an old saying, adopted by the village as a kind of official send-off.

“Sagami. Your mission in Kumo is _directly_ related to our future, and I _personally_ recommended you be sent there to convert the Raikage to the cause…or deal with the alternative.”

She set her jaw. It was hard to argue with that.

* * *

October 11, 69th year since the Founding, 10:30pm, Sama-Sama Hot Springs Resort, Takigakure interior.

Their guest hut was small. The back door led out to a fresh-smelling natural spring that drew on water heated deep underground.

The night was a good one. Clouds drifted above the half-clear sky. The late autumn wind blew in from the northeast, freezing the night air and skimming off the heat of the spring beneath its bite.

Late in the evening, midway between the appearance of the moon and the stars, Rasu decided there was nothing left for her to do. She was not used to being idle, but her wards were doing nothing. She went through the back door of their shared hut and onto the artful stone patio of their private bathing area. The cold air chilled the rising steam into a thin mist that hovered over the water, but she could clearly make out the shapes of the Hoshigaki and the Uchiha sitting in it. Even lawless murderers sought out some bodily warmth now and again. She smiled wryly.

“Oi, Taki-san,” the Hoshigaki grunted. “We’re _bathing_ here.”

“I can see that, Kisame-san,” she replied calmly, using his given name partly in jest. She slipped quietly across the stone patio that was cold against her bare feet. With a sigh, she flung her towel up on a hook. Like her, they’d chosen to strip down to almost nothing for the hot water. Kisame shifted uncomfortably, but Itachi kept his eyes closed, not stirring. Seeing her near-unclothed state was unavoidable _if_ he opened them, but he was no pervert. If she wanted to expose herself to his partner, it was none of his business.

“There aren’t separate baths for men and women at this spring, Hoshigaki-san,” she explained with an exhale of a laugh. “There is one bath for each cabin, to be shared privately.” It was difficult to see through the steam and darkness anyway. “And modesty is a luxury I’ve _long_ grown out of,” she sighed, closing her eyes against the mist.

“What news?” Kisame splashed, his head now half-submerged.

Itachi heard the Taki-nin sigh again, and then, “I’m going to Cloud country.” She sounded distant.

“Oh?” Kisame perked up with a splash. “Kumo? Business or pleasure?” He joked. She ignored it.

“Is Akatsuki going to come with me?” She breathed slow, and spoke slower.

More splashing. “I should think so. Itachi?”

“Yes,” Itachi heard his own deep voice absorb into the water.

“Ah,” then Rasu sighed again, sinking further. The atmosphere, steam, and gentle swish of the crowning trees lulled her into spiritual relaxation, deadening her nerves. Not even the presence of deadly missing-nin could quash her peacefulness. She laughed. “That was easier than I thought.”

Itachi heard the gentle disturbance of water from the Taki-nin, and then the sounds of Kisame shifting to a more comfortable position nearby. His long hair was down and he was warm all over, an unusual and not unwelcome feeling. Rising steam filled his nose and throat, and he kept his breath even, deepening into meditation. His senses told him Kisame would be falling asleep soon, and the third presence was not distracting. She moved less than Kisame, and breathed quieter.

Itachi couldn’t know that the inside of Rasu’s eyelids were painted with the image of her vast homeland stretching out beneath her, autumn sun sinking fast below the horizon, but his mind drew him to the very same place. He had observed the look in her eye when they exited the side of the mountain, and after ghosting the curve of her jaw, his gaze followed and lingered on the multitude of colors and shapes stretching across the country of Waterfall.

Itachi would not call himself someone with any special interest in a landscape’s natural beauty, but her vivid appreciation and the look in her eye as she drank in her country drew his attention and held it. He would admit it _was_ aesthetically pleasing, but she _loved_ her country.

It was only too bad that the country she loved so much chose to interfere with the unattainable foundation of his own life – Konoha. And like Akatsuki, Takigakure’s plans involving Konoha would surely fail. Konoha was the bright and shining star of the future, and Itachi would keep its darkness at bay for the rest of his life. Takigakure would be crushed if need be, for Itachi will not let his efforts go to waste.

* * *

October 12, 69th year since the Founding, 06:00am, Takigakure Central Administration.

At 0600, Rasu stood at attention in front of four high-ranking shinobi council members. One was Geta Yomura. The others she recognized from previous mission briefings but didn’t know by name. Two men and two women, all well-respected shinobi between the ages of 40 and 90. One of these four would become Takigakure’s Kage upon official formation, she realized. _That_ was how high her mission ran within the governing sphere, and _that_ was how seriously Takigakure took the allegiance with Akatsuki.

Flanking her left and right were the two Akatsuki members she’d spent almost every waking moment with over the past week. Intensive cohabitation had not lessened her outright dislike of the pair even though her knowledge of them was steadily growing.

Once the door behind them was barred and shut, Itachi and Kisame dispelled their henge, dramatically amplifying their presence and the meaning behind it. Kisame’s greater height and menacing aura made the room seem that much smaller.

“Akatsuki finds your terms satisfactory,” Kisame announced without waiting for introductions. The normally jesting, good-natured man was using his built frame to a menacing advantage. Seemed even the blue man knew how to use his bag of tricks in a non-combative setting.

The eldest council member, a thin old crone with a wry smile, nodded. “Fine. We won’t waste time with platitudes, then. Yomura, here,” she indicated, “tells me Sagami is jumping to talk timeline. I doubt she confided in you two, but she got into it with her elder last night.” Rasu ducked her head, passive expression and only a tightening of her jaw. “So Sagami,” the elder woman said, “talk.”

“I said my peace last night, donna. I defer to the council’s judgment, as always.” She bowed low; a little too low, by Itachi’s eye.

“Hm,” the woman smirked. “Slight, as always. I knew there was a reason we kept you.” Rasu smiled softly at this woman who was not her mentor. “I’ll share the highlights, then. No, we will not attack this year. Fewer than two weeks into an alliance with Iwagakure, and with Sand in chaos, our plans for Kumogakure, and Water ever the wild child? No, _none_ of that will do well for us. Sand must sort out and pick a new Kage; we don’t have enough claws in that nation to influence the choice, and we need to know what we are dealing with before we turn all attention to Konoha.”

Her frankness was refreshing. No flowery words or tired run-on sentences. “Is this further satisfactory?”

Kisame inclined his head. “Yes. Akatsuki awaits a more favorable position. We will coordinate.”

“Excellent, Vitya,” the woman beside the crone was younger, in her forties. “Now as for Kumogakure,” she began. “We must discuss your _immediate_ plans.”

“We will assist Sagami-san in destabilizing Kumogakure,” Itachi spoke. In the corner of Itachi’s eye he saw Rasu’s head snap to him, eyes narrowing. She certainly hadn’t told him _that_ part of the plan, but Itachi was nothing without advanced information.

“Excellent,” the younger woman went on. “That saves us a lot of time, then. Sagami, you can fill them in on the road, though it seems the information might flow both ways, hm?” She drummed her nails on the desk.

Rasu nodded stiffly at her superior after a pause. “Yes.” Her mission did not specifically _require_ her to stay with them in partnership. She’d hoped for a more _distanced_ kind of alliance. “I understand my position.”

Vitya’s aged eye glinted. “Akatsuki,” she shifted. “How is Kakuzu faring these days?”

Kisame bared the left set of his teeth. “He’s still kicking.”

“What a shame,” she retorted. “We’re not here to collect his corpse, though. It’s part of our agreement – Sagami must have told you.”

Kisame’s eye glinted this time. “Ye-es,” he dragged out. “She might have mentioned it.” She hadn’t.

“Where are your skills, Sagami?” Yomura inquired.

She stole a glance at the Akatsuki, irritated that he asked for her self-appraisal in front of them. “Sir. Stamina upgrade. Else unchanged. Improvement most needed in chakra precision.”

“I thought as much,” the crone hobbled around the table towards the three of them. “Sagami, travel to Marimo Lake. Master water-based chakra adhesion _before_ you depart for Kumogakure – Sanebir’s orders. If it’s alright with you,” she addressed the pair. “She will rejoin you after.”

Marimo Lake? The same Marimo Lake that Kakuzu casually mentioned hailing from?

“It is not necessary. We will remain for the duration of her training. That way, we will use the time to formulate a course of action for the situation in Kumogakure.” Itachi spoke with an air of finality.

Rasu stood still as the old lady stopped in front of her, eyes appraising. “It is your choice,” she replied to Itachi. Her cane came down on Rasu’s shoulder, making her wince. A hard blow from an old lady. “Work on your strength, too, you stubborn idiot.” Rasu frowned at her. “A tough constitution won’t get you everywhere, and you’ll need it in Kumo.”

“Once our presence is known, word will reach Konoha, you can guarantee it,” the man to the left of Yomura cautioned. “You’d best finish this business quickly.”

Rasu bowed. “You can be sure that by the time word reaches Konoha, the world’s tide will already be turning. Konoha will be powerless to stop the changes.”

Rasu was proud of her village for inducing these changes that would surely bring peace to the shinobi world. The thought of being part of its noble cause made her giddy. It was time to tip the world’s scales in favor of _peace_. Striking a balance in power between _all_ nations was the just and correct outcome. Her heart raced and she had to check herself to keep from grinning while still in chambers. Not even the thought that she’d have to keep working with ‘them’ could dampen her spirits. It was just a mission, after all, and they were not partners, only temporary comrades. She’d bear it out for the sake of her – and Takigakure’s – ideals.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Reposted (and continued) from FFnet.  
> This is not a 'Konoha-is-best' protagonist or story. Shinobi raised in different nations will have different perspectives on worldly events, and I intend to fully exploit this fact. Our hero, Rasu, is from Takigakure.  
> *Rasu is a nickname. She is my OC and I love her! For OC naming reference, please see my profile!


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